What are the real-world challenges of implementing NFTs at scale across supply chains? Technology is often only a means to an end and is seldom a silver bullet. There are several real-world issues that can hinder progress with rolling out NFTs and blockchains across supply chains globally. The benefits of digital twins for real-world goods can’t be underestimated. However, today’s supply chains globally are extremely intermediated and run on trust. A farmer in Africa sells their produce to an intermediary as they have for years. This develops a certain amount of trust between the two parties. As a result, resistance …

Blockchain technology has long been a part of the revolution in global supply chain management and the agricultural business. However, as the world continues to face the adverse effects of global warming and the increasing need to change how companies approach natural resources, this technology has an even larger role to play. Deforestation is one of the main contributing factors to the rapid increase in the net global temperature. Forests make up an essential part of the flora and biological diversity of the planet, and as industrialization and urbanization set in, deforestation is becoming an evident problem. Blockchain technology and …

German car manufacturer BMW plans to integrate blockchain technology into its daily operations and create a blockchain loyalty program for its customers in Thailand. The popular carmaker has onboarded blockchain infrastructure firm Coinweb as its decentralized architecture provider and BNB chain for settling transactions. The integration of blockchain technology into BMW’s workflow will take place in two phases. First, the decentralized tech will be integrated into BMW’s daily operations with the goal of automating time-consuming manual processes and streamlining the company’s automobile financing services. The second phase of the project would see Coinweb develop a customized Web3 application for BMW’s …

Smart contracts are self-executing lines of code that run atop blockchains and are triggered once a set of predetermined conditions are met. They are used to automate the execution of online agreements without the involvement of third parties. Today, they are used across many industries, including the healthcare industry. The healthcare sector stands to benefit a lot from the widespread implementation of these self-executing programs, especially when it comes to streamlining arduous manual processes, automating bureaucratic procedures and alleviating issues caused by human error. Today, many healthcare institutions rely on highly centralized conventional management systems to handle sensitive tasks such …

United States technology company IBM and Danish logistics firm Maersk have decided to discontinue their co-developed blockchain-backed supply chain platform, TradeLens, citing a lack of “global industry collaboration” as a key reason behind the decision. Maersk stated on Nov. 29 that it has begun taking immediate action to cease operations on the platform which should take full effect by Q1 2023: “The TradeLens team is taking action to withdraw the offerings and discontinue the platform [...] During this process all parties involved will ensure that customers are attended to without disruptions to their businesses.” While the blockchain-based shipping solution was …

The world is quick to blame inflation for the rising prices at grocery stores and retailers. This was the #1 political issue for recent Election Day voters in the United States. For example, media sources recently reported poll data that 85% of Americans could not afford to spend $200 on a Thanksgiving meal in November 2022, and only 25% could afford $100. However, few recognize inflation is only part of the problem. Higher costs for products and services are also directly attributable to settlement fees paid by transportation providers who are forced to take out the equivalent of payday loans …

The future of blockchain-based supply chain? The demand for the blockchain-based supply chain is driven by customers’ need to know the specific source of their items and whether they were made according to ethical standards. Blockchain technology use cases in supply chain management have the potential to address concerns in traditional supply chains, like removing the need to prepare burdensome paperwork. Moreover, a decentralized, immutable record of all transactions and organizations’ digitization of physical assets can make it possible to track products from the manufacturing unit to the delivery destination, enabling a more transparent and visible supply chain. However, the …

The Australian arm of Big Four accounting firm KPMG could soon be holding executive meetings and closing multi-million dollar deals with clients in the Metaverse, with the firm now exploring how the revolutionary technology can transform its business model. In a recent interview, KPMG’s James Mabbott, Partner in Charge at KPMG Futures said the firm sees real potential in the technology creating new and more efficient ways for businesses and consumers to interact with each other: “I think the really interesting applications are going to be in the business to business context [...] And I think that I actually think …

A recent report from the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA) highlights how the Ethereum ecosystem has matured to a point where the network can be used by businesses to solve real-world problems. From supply chain management use cases to payment solutions utilized by companies like Visa and PayPal, the report demonstrates how the Ethereum network has grown to become one of the most valued public blockchains. Although notable, the EEA report also points out that the rapid growth of the Ethereum ecosystem has created a number of challenges for companies, specifically regarding energy consumption, scalability and privacy. For example, the document …

ANZ’s stablecoin A$DC has been used to buy Australian tokenized carbon credits, marking another critical test of the asset’s use cases in the local economy. In March, the “Big Four” bank became the first major Australian financial institution to mint its own stablecoin after overseeing a pilot transaction worth $20.76 million, or 30 million Australian dollars (AUD), between Victor Smorgon Group and digital asset manager Zerocap. ANZ’s stablecoin is fully collateralized by AUD held in the bank’s managed reserved account. So far, A$DC transactions have primarily been conducted over the Ethereum blockchain. According to a Monday report from the Australian …

For many years, the United States Military has been experimenting with blockchain in a number of settings to enhance its operations. Now, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is adopting blockchain into its budgeting and accounting processes. According to a Thursday press release, the USAF has enlisted SIMBA Chain, a blockchain-as-a-service platform, to develop a blockchain-based system for tracking and monitoring the military's cash flow and supply chain quality and management. The goal of the project, dubbed Digital Blockchain Budgeting Accountability and Tracking (DiBaT), is to tokenize all dollars within the USAF supply chain budget, as well as track fund movement …

Its been a rough couple of weeks for the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) price is nowhere near the price estimates of most analysts, multiple stablecoins lost their peg and the demise of one of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms sparked an event that resulted in $900 billion vanishing from the total crypto market capitalization. In the midst of the widespread fallout, MakerDAO (MKR) managed to turn crisis into opportunity and the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) has brought renewed attention to DAI, the longest-running decentralized stablecoin. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that as the collapse of Terra …