Since probably the hype of bitcoin last year we all heard of the blockchain technology. However still the majority of people only see blockchain as an equivalent to bitcoin and a asset to invest in to earn money, but nothing is less true. Bitcoin is only one really limited application of blockchain technology and focusses only on financial transactions without any extra intelligence. Thankfully, blockchain technology has plenty more to offer and obviously will disrupt many industries, including logistics!

What is blockchain:
Blockchain is not bitcoin, blockchain is a way of working, the blockchain technology works as a decentralized database for handling divergent types of data. All applications we use eventually work on an information database, whether it is Whatsapp, online banking or Facebook, in the end they all rely on an information database which provides the correct data on the right time. However before the era of blockchain those were all centralized databases in the datacenters of for example Facebook and our financial institutions. Those centralized databases are a single point of failure and we all just have to trust that those institutions handles our data safe and correct, all the power is in the hands of the institutions. The blockchain is different it is decentralized over a worldwide network of computers in a peer-2-peer network and all data is separated all over the biggest network (blockchain) of the world. The most important part of this decentralized database is that every node in the network has a copy of the database and if someone adds, edits or deletes data the whole network has to agree on the fact that that person can adjust the data, which makes the system very trustful. It is just spreading the risk resulting in the fact that there is no single point of failure anymore in where cyber thiefs can hack. If you want a more comprehensive explanation of blockchain please view the following video.

Bitcoin was just the beginning
Bitcoin is only just a limited first generation financial decentralized database system which can handle only financial information. At the moment there are plenty of second/third generation blockchain initiatives which are way more intelligent databases and can handle way more extensive data, and one of the biggest supply chain management blockchain initiatives is VeChain.

What is VeChain?
VeChain is a logistic leading blockchain platform for luxury products and data. VeChain strives for a self-developed blockchain platform based on an ecosystem of transparency and distributed companies.

As mentioned above, VeChain develops a blockchain with mainly logistical purposes. The VeChain smart chip is one of these developments. The purpose of this chip is the authentication process of all kinds of products. In addition, the chip gives background information about the relevant product. But how does this work exactly? As an example we take a nice brand coat. For years, many brands have been copied worldwide. These products are often indistinguishable from the consumer. VeChain wants to put an end to this by means of the smart chip. The chip is processed in the product. When the product is scanned, the chip gives all information about the product. Consider the authenticity of the product but also the maker, the material, the country of origin and the production date. A complete digital profile of a product is created, as it were. As you can understand, this is a very big development in the field of product authentication. If VeChain succeeds in setting this up, this can be very interesting for the complete project.
All this chip data is handled on the fast, safe and reliable blockchain databases which makes it a future proof solution for efficient, effective handling of the product/logistics data.

The following video simply explains the VeChain products. If you are curious in the project and you want to invest in blockchain technology don’t hesistate to ask me!