Veritas expands its anti-counterfeit chip to jewelry, trophies, and fragrance bottles

Counterfeits of luxury goods are a major problem for fashion houses. Counterfeiters are getting better at replicating brands' marks and passing off dupes, Counterfeits of luxury goods are a major problem for fashion houses. Counterfeiters are getting better at replicating brands’ marks and passing off dupes, known as “superfakes,” as genuine items. A startup called Veritas wants to tackle the problem with its own chip that verifies goods. Veritas was founded by Luci Holland, a former Tesla technical product manager who also has a background in design and art. Its chip is built to be easily inserted into products without damaging them. Brands can use it to verify whether a product is the real deal, and customers can show a certificate of ownership through the company’s app.

Holland said other approaches are easier to defeat, because a digital record can be reproduced through a copied QR code or static NFC link. “Our approach combines secure, authenticated chip responses with integration into the product itself. Our chip generates a secure response with each tap and includes a tamper-detection wire. We make the connection between the object and its digital identity part of the proof,” Holland said. The Veritas founder told TechCrunch over email that the company