Why counterfeiting is the problem the Authentication Industry secretly needs

A reflection by Guri Dhillon, Founder, XRD Nano Ltd (UK)

Most industries dream of solving their greatest problem. Ours quietly hopes it never does.

Every year, billions are spent fighting fakes, yet the problem refuses to disappear. We design clever holograms, smarter inks, traceable codes, digital twins and new databases, while the counterfeiters continue to keep pace with astonishing agility. Perhaps this is not failure at all but balance, an unspoken understanding that keeps the industry alive.

The authentication business has built a ritual around crisis. Every exhibition and every conference begin with the familiar line: “Counterfeiting costs the global economy over a trillion dollars a year.” Heads nod solemnly. Then comes the next slide, which presents the miracle solution, usually our own.

The uncomfortable truth is that if counterfeiting were ever completely defeated, if every label were traceable and every hologram beyond imitation, the market would collapse under the weight of its own success. We would have cured the illness that keeps us in business.

Much of what we call innovation is really theatre for auditors. Each new layer of complexity is less about defeating counterfeiters and more about maintaining momentum. In a curious way, the counterfeiters have become our silent collaborators. They copy, we improve, they copy again, and the dance continues.

Perhaps we do not sell protection at all. Perhaps what we offer is reassurance, a comforting illusion that something is being done.

The real authenticity problem may not lie in the products. It may lie within us. Until we admit that our prosperity partly depends on the persistence of fakes, we will continue to polish our foils, quote our statistics and pretend to despise the villain that sustains us.

This reflection is written in humour and curiosity. It is not an accusation but an invitation to think, to smile, and perhaps to wince a little. And please, do not cancel your conference plans just yet.

In the end, the only thing harder to counterfeit than our products may be our sincerity.

About the Author

Guri Dhillon is the founder of XRD Nano Ltd, a British company working at the intersection of optics, engineering and UV resin chemistry. He spends his time developing machines, materials and methods that shape the next generation of authentication and optical technologies.

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