Blockchain, the centralized ledger technology behind cryptocurrency, is considered to have a ton of potential in applications ranging from the maritime industry and shipping to contracts, fundraising, and more. According to Fast Company, the trade of chickens in China has also been impacted by this exciting new technology:
In China, now consumers who want to feel good about their chickens have another option: free-range and organic birds raised with an anklet that tracks and reports every aspect of their lives.
“All info related to the chicken can be verified in the blockchain,” says Xuefeng Li, CTO of ZhongAn Technology, the tech incubator of the Chinese insurance company ZhongAn, which developed the technology. The chicken’s age and location, how far it walks each day, air pollution, the quality of the water it drinks, when it’s quarantined, when it’s slaughtered, and other details, are all recorded in the blockchain, the same secure digital ledger used in cryptocurrency transactions.
In the case of these chickens, the blockchain provides an unalterable ledger of where the animal has been, along with other actionable facts like feed, slaughter date, and more. The blockchain records what happens to the chickens throughout their lives and the information is publicly available to the customers that buy the chicken.
It’s a great example of how far the blockchain can go by showing how granular the blockchain can get. A blockchain for chickens can be the starting point for blockchains for all kinds of fruits and animals. You can ensure your food was picked, ripened, packaged, slaughtered, fed, and more in the timeframe that makes you comfortable.
Apply that same logic to any sort of manufactured and shipped thing. The blockchain could tell you where and by whom a display screen was melded together, when it was shipped, where it stopped on the way, what components were used, and more. It could do the same for virtually any product. You might not be in the chicken business, but think about how blockchain could be introduced to your business to help keep your customers as happy as these free-range chicken eaters.
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply