Most have heard of bitcoin, fewer are familiar with blockchain. Bitcoin uses blockchain to form a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment system. The structure of data representing a financial ledger entry, or a record of a transaction or transactions, is digitally signed, meaning the authenticity is as close to guaranteed as can be attained in modern terms, and is subsequently more difficult to tamper with. The technology has the capacity to fundamentally change the way we approach finance, and is seeping into sectors like identification, tracing and property, and now even the food industry. Adding an “item” on Provence so it can be tracked by the end user (photo via Provenance) A British company just ended a pilot in Indonesia, using blockchain to pioneer a new method of traceability when it comes to fishing, which could stop many of the troubling practises within the illegal fishing industry–including slavery. Provenance used mobile, blockchain technology and smart tagging to track fish caught by fishermen with verified social sustainability claims. Their pilot successfully tracked fish in Indonesia from January to June of 2016, and demonstrated not just another digital interface, but a solution to tracking systems and claims securely and without the need for a centralized data management system. This has huge potential, given Asian Pacific seas provide daily food and income to over 200 million people living in Southeast Asia, and 90% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported with Southeast Asia being one of the largest suppliers, as per a US AID report . Seafood is also now the most widely traded animal protein on the planet. Blockchain technology, if implemented properly, would assist in a more fluid way for consumers to track where what they’re eating is coming from. Christian Schmidradner, General Manager of Meliomar Inc ., exports tuna […]
