Tech giant IBM and blockchain company Chainyard have jointly developed a new blockchain network for supply chain management. IBM announced the platform in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 5. Alongside IBM, the Trust Your Supplier network’s founding members are also American brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev, tech companies Cisco, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric, British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and telecoms company Vodafone. The product is built on the IBM Blockchain Platform and aims to eliminate manual time-consuming processes and help reduce the risk of fraud and errors. Per the release, Trust Your Supplier creates a digital passport for supplier …

Automaker Volvo Cars, owned by Chinese automotive group Geely, has produced electric cars with cobalt mapped on a blockchain, Reuters reports on Aug. 2. Blockchain used to combat child labor Per the report, Volvo also joined a project to monitor cobalt from Democratic Republic of Congo overseen by responsible-sourcing group RCS Global. Information technology outlet ITNews suggests that the aim of the initiative is to prove that their electric vehicles do not rely on conflict minerals or child labor. Automaker Ford, technology giant IBM, South Korean cathode maker LG Chem and Chinese cobalt supplier Huayou Cobalt also participate in the …

The Brazilian non-profit Alinha Institute has launched their Alinha Tag, aiming to inform customers of the labor conditions of the workshops that produced their clothes. As Cointelegraph Brazil reports on July 3, the new Alinha Tag is especially concerned with forced labor in Brazil’s fashion industry. According to Brazilian business newspaper Valor Económico, over 81,000 workers in Brazil were rescued from forced labor in 2018. Per the Alinha Institute’s website, brands and apparel producers register for the Alinha Tag, requiring a review of working conditions of workshops further up the supply chain. Valor Económico reports that the Alinha Institute has …

Canada’s transcontinental railway, Canadian Pacific (CP), has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA). CP announced its new membership in an official press release on July 31. According to the announcement, CP is looking to support improvements in supply chain technology through blockchain technology. BiTA says that by joining the group, CP is helping them to drive global supply chain interoperability. BiTA president Patrick Duffy also commented on the potential benefits of blockchain in the transportation sector, saying that the new tech “has the potential to smooth the transactions that occur between shippers and carriers, but it requires the active …

In an era in which catching a flight is easier than renting a car, and an estimated 40 million flights will occur this year alone, it is understandable that competition is fierce, and even the smallest advantage may be the difference between leading the industry and being forced into an unwanted merger. Last year, Cointelegraph discussed the potential benefits the blockchain industry can have for airlines. Fast-forward 12 months and the waves this technology is making not only for airlines but also air travel and the aviation industry as a whole can be clearly seen. We have gone from a …

American tech giant Seagate has entered the pilot stage of its blockchain project designed to fight counterfeit hard disk drives (HDD), Forbes reported on July 30. This pilot is a part of the joint initiative Seagate and IBM launched last November. The project aims to help manufacturers, integrators and business partners to better authenticate the provenance of HDDs by using IBM’s Blockchain Platform. According to Seagate’s data security research group managing technologist Manuel Offenberg, in the pilot IBM “is both the customer of these drives, as well as the technology provider for the underlying Hyperledger Fabric platform.” Seagate’s blockchain is …

Blockchain startup Lumachain has received $2.4 million in public funding from Main Sequence Ventures, a $165.6 million venture capital fund backed by the Australian government and the federal Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Lumachain’s newly-received funds will go toward staffing fees as well as international expansion, according to a report by local financial news periodical the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on July 29. Lumachain reportedly uses blockchain technology to track and trace the condition and whereabouts of food products along the supply chain in real time. According to Lumachain’s website, founder Jamila Gordon says the goal of her blockchain …

Oranco, a Chinese alcohol wholesaler and marketer that specializes in Fenjiu liquor and imported wines, is currently testing a blockchain solution to guarantee the authenticity of its products. According to a press release on July 26, Oranco subsidiary Fengyuang Huaxin Liquor Development partnered with the blockchain- focused company Guangzhou Silicon Technology (GSTC) almost one year ago. The two companies agreed to co-develop a solution for identifying Oranco’s beverages as genuine. The solution reportedly features proprietary anti-counterfeiting laser recognition, along with blockchain technology as a means to track and certify the alcohol products. This purportedly occurs in two steps. First, GSTC …

The Ugandan government has partnered with blockchain startup MediConnect to trace counterfeit drugs in the country, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on July 22. The President of Uganda, Yoweri Musevini, Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng, and other government officials granted support for MediConnect’s blockchain-based platform designed to deal with various issues in the pharmaceutical sector. Specifically, the government stated that it would deploy the platform for tracking counterfeit drugs. The platform enables the recording of prescription medication, thus identifying counterfeit drugs and preventing their distribution in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Per the Ugandan National Drug Authority, …

Self-proclaimed electrification, automation and digitalization global giant Siemens has shown an interest in adopting blockchain-based solutions. In particular, Siemens is exploring the use of blockchain in the transportation industry, as per a report by Forbes on July 15. According to Siemens Corporate Technology’s head of cybersecurity and blockchain, Andreas Kind, Siemens is looking to incorporate blockchain tech into carsharing via Siemens Mobility — one of Siemens’ subsidiaries. According to the Enterprise CarShare website, carsharing reportedly refers to using or renting a car for a short period of time. As a popular example, the report cites the rental service Zipcar. One …

A recent market report by Grand View Research suggests that blockchain is one of the digital technologies driving market growth in the global transportation management systems (TMS) sector, according to a press release on July 11. According to Grand View Research, a market research company based in San Francisco, the TMS market is expected to reach $198.82 billion by 2025 with a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. A number of digital technologies are credited as driving forces for current and projected TMS market growth alongside blockchain, including аrtificial intelligence, cloud transportation management systems, the so-dubbed Internet of Things, and …

Russian mining and smelting giant Nornickel is planning to roll out a digital platform for metals trading by the end of 2019, local news outlet TASS reported on July 9. The vice-president of Nornickel, Andrey Bugrov told TASS that “the preparation process was quite lengthy, but nevertheless, we plan to bring this product [digitization of metal trading] to the market by the end of 2019 and begin trading our tokens." Bugrov also said that the token trading program could be worth nearly $1 billion, but that is rather a target figure. He pointed out the necessity to analyze market demand …