Physical assets can be tokenized by providing a link from the physical to digital. Components in a supply chain can be uniquely identified and tracked as they move through a supply chain providing end-to-end provenance and visibility for brand owners and their customers, simplifying maintenance and reducing security threats such as anti-counterfeit or diversion.

Think of an aircraft, which may consist of thousands if not millions of individual components, each of which has been produced by a supplier and then gets aggregated into a final product. Each physical and digital component can be tokenized at source by linking identity, time and integrity to the digital asset or digital representation of the physical asset. As those components move through the supply, each token gets updated with new information, which could be passive environmental information or could be acknowledgement of receipt by a new actor in the supply chain. 

The information in the token grows with and can be nested with other tokens as components get aggregated. The end result is a single token which represents the product as a whole and enables accreditors, insurers, security and maintenance personnel to verify the integrity of the product as whole as well as the provenance of every component in the aircraft. Maintenance procedures lead to updated tokens and an updated final token for the product. In the event of a defect the provenance of defective components can be detected and remediation taken.