19 corporations that use blockchain technology and distributed registries

Today, everyone says that in the blockchain area there are not enough successful projects, real case studies that could become an inspiring example for companies that have embarked on the path of digital transformation. I want to share with you the translation of the article about such cases. The text is published by the American analytical company CB Insights . She is digging in the field of breakthrough digital technologies and knows all about startups that are changing the world for the better (I highly recommend following the publications of her specialists).


Let's see which of large corporations, non-profit organizations and governments use blockchains to solve their problems, and in the comments we will discuss which of the presented cases should be applied in Russian realities.

Many corporations are still working with piles of paper and even handwritten documents, transmitting them to their colleagues via fax, as well as with a multitude of databases scattered across different countries and continents. Such complex structures are no longer satisfied with business, and corporate giants are beginning to seek salvation in decentralized systems.
')
(By the way, the LANIT group has just created a center of competence for the formation of new business models based on blockchain technologies, distributed registries and digital platforms - DTG (Digital Transformation Group), which I am in charge of.)

So, here is the case translation that I promised you.

1. Microsoft - ID2020 project partner

Microsoft announced support for the ID2020 project to create a single global identity document that could be used around the world. The main mission of the project is to help people without documents, which number more than one billion.
To this end, the software giant, together with Accenture and Avanade, is developing a prototype digital system based on the blockchain using Microsoft Azure.

2. Goldman Sachs creates a cryptocurrency trading platform.

According to rumors, Goldman Sachs is creating a trading platform for cryptocurrency trading in New York, which will begin its work at the end of June 2018, and maybe earlier. The intrigue persists, since at the end of January there were publications that Goldman Sachs already owns a similar platform, since it was an investor in a startup for its creation in 2015. (At the time of the transfer, an article appeared under the heading “Goldman Sachs does not create a platform for cryptocurrency, because they already have it” .)

The bank's management also noted that it is considering the issue of accounting for cryptoactive assets. Executive Director Lloyd Blankfein mentioned this on his twitter: “Still thinking about # Bitcoin. Until he came to any conclusions - neither for nor against. I remember that once people were already very skeptical - when gold coins began to be replaced with paper money. ”

3. The mining giant BHP Billiton is introducing a blockchain to manage contract work and analytics.

With the help of startup Blockapps and ConsenSys, one of the world's largest mining companies, BHP Billiton, will use the blockchain to track the movement of samples of mined rocks and fluids, as well as to increase the reliability of real-time data.

BHP uses contractors in the process of mining rocks, concludes contracts with geologists and courier companies on different continents for sample collection and analysis.
BHP will insist that their contractors use the Ethereum system and place internal documents on the IPFS system. This is a peer-to-peer distributed file system, often used when implementing a blockchain.

4. Maersk teams up with IBM for a joint project.

The nameless project, based in New York, will help shippers, ports, customs, banks, and other stakeholders in global supply chains, and replace paper documentation with unauthorized access-protected digital reports.

Global suppliers are seriously affected by the abundance of paper documents. In the case of perishable goods, the loss or delay in the way of documentation can lead to serious losses. The blockchain integration can have a noticeable effect on the efficiency of world trade, given that shipping logistics companies deal with 90% of the goods on the world market.

In September, Maersk also entered into a partnership agreement with GuardTime , a blockchain startup that launched a marine insurance blockchain platform with Microsoft and EY, with the participation of insurance companies ACORD, Willis Towers Watson, MS Amlin and XL Catlin.

5. UPS, FedEx, and BNSF Railway join the BITA community.

UPS, FedEx, BNSF Railway (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway) and Schneider Trucking are just some of the more than 200 big names in the BITA (Blockchain in Transport Alliance) community that use blockchain technology in the freight industry.

The purpose of the commonwealth is to unite the companies involved in freight transportation and to develop uniform standards in the process of testing blockchain applications.

6. Petroteq creates a distributed registry for Pemex (for reference, this is the first oil company to accept cryptocurrency)

Pemex, a Mexican state-owned oil and gas and petrochemical company, will support Petroteq, an oil and gas company, to develop industry-specific supply chain management software (SCM).

We know Pemex as the first oil company to accept cryptocurrency as payment. The company employs 100,000 people and has an extensive network of suppliers and business contracts.

The Petroteq project, a PetroBLOQ corporate platform based on the blockchain, will allow oil and gas companies to conduct global operations.

7. UBS, Barclays, Credit Suisse test compliance platform on Ethereum

The Swiss bank UBS will lead a pilot project whose goal is to automate the regulatory requirements of the EU directive governing MiFID II / MiFIR stock exchange operations, which will come into force in 2018.

Using the system created on the basis of the Ethereum blockchain platform, the participating banks will be able to anonymously share Legal Entity Identifier data.

Participating banks will be able to check their data on legal entities and quickly adopt new rules.

Banks also experimented with the blockchain, viewing it as a way to optimize back office performance, which is estimated to free up to $ 20 billion.

8. Producers and sellers of Walmart, Tyson, Unilever, Nestle, Kroger, Dole, McCormick and others products unite for a pilot blockchain project.

In August 2017, Walmart, Kroger, Nestle and Unilever entered into a contract with IBM to use the blockchain to improve food safety by improving supply chain tracking.

Walmart has been working with IBM since 2016, and thanks to this partnership, we managed to reduce the tracking time for mango deliveries from 7 days to 2.2 seconds.

Thanks to the addition of 9 more major food suppliers, in this area (where such cooperation is very rare), the level of security can significantly increase.

Howard Popula, head of food safety at Kroger, said in an interview with Reuters: "For us, this is an opportunity to express a common idea and show the world that food safety will not be the basis for competition."

9. The UN is exploring the possibilities of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) and the blockchain for the organization of humanitarian aid and climate research.

The UN Climate Change Coalition is examining whether distributed registry technologies can improve the results of initiatives taken for climate change. The Coalition is currently seeking to create a transparent system for collecting climate data, carbon emission and sales data.

Distributed registries will help to separate climate data from political issues. Last year, many US scientists were concerned that federal research libraries could be closed and their databases changed or deleted when the new head of the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) took over.

The UN has already developed a project based on the Ethereum blockchain platform to send humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees. The World Food Program has used the blockchain to control Ethereum-based food vouchers that can be sold in markets.

10. TEPCO has partnered with Electron

The British company Electron has recently received investments from TEPCO, Japan’s largest energy company. Currently, the energy industry uses scattered infrastructure to carry out calculations and data logging. Electron hopes to encourage the industry to transfer these functions to a common blockchain platform.

Electron is ready to become a data operator from whom energy suppliers can receive information about assets and keep records of transactional changes. Its services can also be used for utilities such as telecommunications and water supply.

11. Illinois government tests distributed registries for licensing.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), which issues medical licenses, together with Hashed Health, is launching a project to simplify the licensing process.

The goal of the project is to digitize medical credentials and use smart contracts to automate the licensing workflow in Illinois.

12. The Brazilian government is experimenting with uPort

The Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management of Brazil is testing an independent uPort blockchain application for personal identification developed by ConsenSys.

The Ethereum-based platform allows users to edit their own profiles, and the Ministry will verify the legitimacy of the uploaded personal documents.

13. Evernym Works with the Illinois Government Security Department

Evernym , a Salt Lake City-based company, received a $ 794,000 grant from the Security Department as part of a small business promotion program and is developing a blockchain-based system for registering newborns for the Illinois Government.

* * * * * * * * *

At the moment, even the world's giants are only starting to work on blockchain projects. Many cases are just testing ideas and the first step towards the formation of new business models. The most interesting thing is to observe the emergence of digital ecosystem operators (see case number 4), which can increase the efficiency of interaction between participants in a large distributed business process. Blockchain is becoming the technological foundation of such ecosystems.

At the same time, we see that the blockchain can be used not only for financial organizations. Logistics, retail chains, healthcare, oil production and energy ... I think in a year the list of industries will expand significantly.

The opinion of Habr's readers is interesting - do you think that Russian companies will soon show interest in solving such problems using the blockchain and distributed registries? Which of the described cases, in your opinion, are applicable to Russian realities? Are our companies ready to understand the philosophy of sharing the benefits of working in ecosystems?

PS By the way, why in the title of the article mentioned 19 corporations? We ourselves were surprised, but still decided not to change the name. Maybe you have the answer?