Block Bar hits $7m in sales

NFT marketplace Block Bar saw sales reach US$7 million in its first year, with revenue expected to more than triple in its second year.

Founded by cousins Sam and Dov Falic in October 2021, direct-to-consumer asset-backed NFT marketplace Block Bar was created to counter the ‘problem with safe access’ to the fine wine and luxury spirits market.

The platform has gained more than 300,000 users and is experiencing triple-digit growth, the company said.

By year two, Block Bar expects its sales to reach US$25m and gain one million users.

Auctions and private sales began to see a ‘growing problem’ with counterfeits, as there was a ‘growing market for empty bottles’, according to the duo.

Block Bar sources bottles directly from the brands and provides consumers with asset-backed NFTs as proof of ownership.

This means buyers receive a rotating image of their bottle which acts as an ‘uncopyable hallmark’, while at the same time the real bottle is stored in Block Bar’s state-of-the-art facility in Singapore.

If the owner wants to drink their purchase, then the NFT is destroyed and the bottle is hand delivered.

Since its inception, the start-up has released 27 products and worked with 1800 Tequila, Diageo, William Grant & Sons, The Dalmore and Buffalo Trace.

Block Bar’s ambition is to be ‘the biggest marketplace for luxury spirits and fine wines’, a market that has grown ‘faster in value’ than global stock and gold markets.

The founders intended to use NFTs to ‘democratise’ access and ‘eliminate counterfeiting’.

The most a NFT has sold for on Block Bar was the Hennessy 8 Cognac for 70.47 ethereum (US$226,000).