Social Login

Metacask uses a new concept for managing your Digital Presence. We use a Social Login mechanism to allow you to create and associate your Digital Account with your Social Identity.

For this you will need an email address, a WeChat account, or a Facebook identity. In the future we will add more options as the service expands. What this means is that you no longer need to worry about managing your public and private keys – which would be the case with a traditional Digital Wallet. If you want to back up your keys, this is possible via the wallet infrastructure provider, Torus (tor.us).

Once you have selected your Social Login, you must connect using the same login every time to access the same account. If you use a new login (let's say new email address), a new account will be created for you and you will need to verify that account as well.

Digital Ownership

Unlike most other NFT marketplaces or e-commerce sites, Metacask is straddling both. We are an e-commerce site which supports the concept of Digital Ownership. This means you can collect, sell and eventually redeem physical products through their Digital Deeds. We use Non-Fungible Token (NFT) technology to enable Digital Ownership.

When you buy a product, the physical product itself will be held in storage, until the point you request delivery (through Redemption). Your ownership is signified by the Digital Deed which is held in your Digital Account. At any point past the Redeemable By Date on the product, the physical itself can be requested. Once requested, the Digital Deed converts to a Digital Collectible – a traditional NFT which you maybe familiar with it.

We do this to allow you have a Proof-of-Purchase of the product, but there may be other utility the product enables – such as artwork, and you should not lose this.

Identity Verification & KYC

As we are dealing with alcohol-based physical products, these are controlled substances in most jurisdictions. This requires that we ensure we are not selling these products to minors. Even though the ownership is digital, we still have obligations to various authorities to ensure that the owners of the physical products are verified individuals or entities. For example, if you purchase a Cask of Whisky, the warehouse has a duty to report to the Revenue Services who owns or manages the cask.

What this means is that all our smart contracts have to ensure that your Digital Account has been verified to allow you to participate. This verification process does not mean that Metacask collects your Personal Identification Information (PII). We use a third-party verification service to verify your account. This service is provided by Civic Identity (civic.com).

The verification process is fully automated, unless you are a Chinese customer. For Chinese customers, you must contact us at kyc@metacask.com for a manual verification. The Primary reason for this restriction is the data protection laws in China. Verification is a two step process using Civic. First, you must install and upload an identity to the Civic App – please carefully read their Terms & Conditions and ensure you agree before proceeding. Once this identity is associated with the Civic App, you can use it to issue Civic Passes to applications like Metacask. What this tells us is that your identity has been verified and meets our requirements (age, and country – not a restricted country for example).

Steps to get Verified

To connect (or create) an account to collect on Metacask, please follow the steps below.

1. Connecting

   To connect (or create) your account, please first click the User Profile button on the top right corner of the application.

   
2. Selecting your connection method

   Now select how you will connect to the application. You must use the same approach every time, else a new account will be created for the new Social Login that you use and you will not see the other products you own through your other account.

   
3. Popups

   If you have popups disabled (for security), you may get up to two prompts. One will be from the browser, see the attached examples below. Please DENY or disregard the browser popup request, instead on the page you will see a pop up from Torus with the Continue button, please click that and follow the instructions.

   

   

   Please make sure you only click Continue here.

   
4. Using Google

   If your select Google, you will get a prompt to either select any accounts you are using already or login to an existing Google Account. Once you either select or login to your account, the connection will proceed.

   
5. Using Google (Step 2)

   You may see the spinner while your Digital Account is created or connected. You may see an additional confirmation at this state to setup Two Factor Authentication (2FA), for this account. For extra security, please consider setting up the 2FA in the future (this will add some additional steps for future logins!)

   
6. Digital Account connected

   Once connected (if this is a new account), you will see the User Profile button shows the Digital Account Address, if you click on it, the Menu now shows the Digital Account Address with some additional options. This Digital Account will always be associated with your Social Login (Google email for example). As long as you remember how to log into your email, you will have access and control of this Digital Account.

   
7. Registering your Digital Account with Metacask

   Once you have the Digital Account, you must register it on Metacask. This tells our application that you are happy to connect your Digital Account. Click Register and enter your username and contact information. NOTE: The contact information is required as we will use this to notify you in the event of any changes to your physical products. For example, if you are due to pay for storage on a given Cask or Bottle, you will be notified here. You must provide a valid contact mechanism; else you are at risk of losing your physical asset. Supported options are email address or WeChat ID.

   
8. Approve the registration

   Our application relies on your proving your actions by Signing a Message using your Digital Account. We do not use a traditional login mechanism (username and password), instead all activity is executed through your Digital Account. This approach means that we have less information about you that can be stolen, and you have control over the activity you approve on the application. You will see this prompt on many flows, for example payments. The purpose of this is to prove to us that you control your Digital Account. When you approve, we know that the action is executed by you and our system will allow the action to happen.

   
9. Metacask account created or connected

   Once your account is connected, you will see the User Profile button change to show your username. If you reload the page, the application will reload your account from your connected Digital Account if you do not clear your browser settings. You can get to your public Profile page by clicking on the Avatar icon on the menu.

   
10. Connected account menu

    If you click the User Profile button, you will see the menu now has a new option to allow you to edit your profile. You will also see your verification status. For new accounts, the status will always have the button Get Verified.

    
11. Editing your profile

    Edit Profile allows you to set some additional information about you. This is optional, and any information you provide here will be displayed publicly on your profile page.

    
12. Verifying your account

    To verify your account, which you must do before you collect on the application, please click the Get Verified button. This will start the automated KYC flow.

    
13. Start of verification flow

    On the first screen you will see some help information about the verification process. Please make sure you disable any VPNs as this will hinder the process. Then click on your region, either Non-US, US or China. Each flow is slightly different. For the rest of the instruction, we will use the Non-US flow, the US flow is virtually the same, but with slightly different Terms & Conditions.

    
14. Civic Flow: Step 1

    Please review and agree with the Terms & Conditions. Please make sure you agree with their Biometric policy as this is how the identities are verified.

    
15. Civic Flow: Step 2

    To complete the verification process, you will need to install the Civic Identity Wallet application on your phone. The Civic Identity Wallet is available on Google Play or the Apple App Store. This app allows you to upload an identity and have it verified by Civic. The verified identity is stored in this wallet on your phone, and you can use it to authorize applications like Metacask. Please follow the instructions on the Civic Identity Wallet app once you have it installed to create your first identity. Then resume here by clicking Start Verification.

    
16. Civic Flow: Self Declaration

    Once your identity is setup on your phone, click Start Verification, you will be presented with a declaration which you must agree to. This indicates that you are for example not a US citizen (for the Non-US flow) etc. Once you agree, click to proceed.

    
17. Civic Flow: QR Code

    Next you will be presented with a QR code to scan using your Civic Identity Wallet. If you start the app on your phone, you will see a little QR code symbol, click that and you will be able to scan this code. The app will ask you to Authorize the Metacask App for your identity. If you click Authorize, a Civic Pass will be issued to your connected Digital Account. This pass is what Metacask will look for to enable access on the system.

    
18. Civic Flow: App Flow

    While you follow the instructions on the Civic Identity Wallet App, you will see this screen displayed. Please do not close or navigate away from the Metacask page at this stage or you will have to resume from Step 12.

    
19. Civic Flow: Approve

    Once you have completed the flow on the Civic Identity Wallet app, you may see a popup request on the Metacask application. This may appear if you have restrictions on popups on your browser. Click Continue to proceed.

    
20. Civic Flow: Approve from wallet

    Now you will see the familiar Digital Account Approval prompt. Please click Confirm to proceed. This step is required to prove that you control your Digital Account, as only you will be able to do this step. The fact that you approved will be passed to Civic to verify, once they have verified, they will issue the Civic Pass to your Digital Account.

    
21. Civic Flow: Issuing Civic Pass

    At this stage, Civic will issue your Civic Pass to your Digital Account based on the identity your setup on your app. This pass will be in your Digital Account until you decide to remove it (a manual step which currently cannot be done through Metacask, in the future it may be possible on the blockchain application at cspr.live). As the pass is issued, you will see the status change from NOT REQUESTED to REQUESTED. Please wait until this process completes. Once REQUESTED, you can navigate away from this page, and come back later, and your pass will be in your account. Normally the process takes between 30s and one minute.

    

    
22. Verified!

    Once your Civic Pass is issued, your menu will show the Verified green marker. This means your Civic Pass has been successfully issued to your account. NOTE: This pass contains no identifying information, it simply has a status and an expiry which tells our application whether the pass is valid and how long it is valid for. Success, now you are free to collect on Metacask!