Whisky used to back long-term loans to Japanese distiller

Brewer employs blockchain to create sake NFTs

20230824N casks

Casks of whisky are shelved to age at a storehouse maintained by Tsuzaki's Kuju Distillery in Takeda, Japan.

RIHO TAKAHASHI, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Like loans, whisky and other fine spirits take time to mature. Japanese lenders are tapping into this common feature to extend distillers financing.

One approach even fuses the centuries-old art of sake brewing with blockchain technology to create non-fungible tokens that allow brewers to access cash that typically would not be available until after years of maturing in a warehouse.

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