Origyn

Established in 2020, ORIGYN is a Swiss-based non-profit foundation addressing the challenge of authenticating and proving ownership for high-value assets. The company was co-founded by Gian Bochsler, a fintech and real estate entrepreneur; Vincent Perriard, a veteran of the luxury watch industry; and Mike Schwartz, who has a background in digital ventures. The trio's combined expertise in finance, luxury goods, and technology underpins ORIGYN's strategic direction. The foundation has secured significant funding, including a $20 million strategic round in late 2021 from investors such as Bill Ackman's Table Management and Paris Hilton, which valued the company at $300 million.

ORIGYN operates a decentralized protocol that creates powerful, biometric digital certificates for real-world assets (RWAs). This is accomplished by using technologies like artificial intelligence and computer vision to capture an object's unique physical characteristics, creating a digital twin that is then linked to an immutable NFT certificate on the Internet Computer (IC) blockchain. This process allows an item to serve as its own proof of authenticity without requiring external additions like chips or QR codes. The firm's business model centers on the use of its utility token, OGY, which is required to mint and transact these digital certificates. Revenue generated from these activities is used in a deflationary mechanism that includes burning OGY tokens to reduce the total supply. To foster adoption, ORIGYN has also introduced an 'Integrator' model, partnering with industry experts to build tailored solutions on its protocol for specific sectors.

The foundation serves a broad market by targeting industries where provenance and authenticity are critical. It has established several industry-specific verticals: ORIGYN Art, which links physical artworks to NFT certificates; ORIGYN Luxury for authenticating goods like watches; ORIGYN Collectibles for trading items with verified uniqueness; and ORIGYN Digital Media for creators to manage their intellectual property. Key partnerships have been instrumental in its growth, including collaborations with luxury watch platform WatchBox to issue digital certificates for pre-owned timepieces and with FederItaly to certify the authenticity of 'Made in Italy' products. The protocol also supports the tokenization of precious metals, exemplified by a partnership with Swiss gold refiner Metalor to certify physical bullion.

Keywords: digital certification, real-world assets, blockchain, NFT, authenticity, provenance, luxury goods, fine art, asset tokenization, decentralized protocol