According to Forbes, almost all large companies with revenues of more than one billion dollars a year have already integrated the blockchain technology into their business or plan to do it as soon as possible. And there is nothing strange: any business, regardless of size, scope of activity or location, receives a lot of competitive advantages from a new technology:
- acceleration and cheapening of financial calculations;
- standardization and automation of business processes;
- increasing business transparency and customer confidence;
- more reliable protection of important data from hackers;
- office optimization and more.
# 1. Microsoft: Legal identification of the person
Microsoft, together with consulting firm Accenture PLC, is developing a blockchain platform for providing personal identification services. The network project was demonstrated in July 2017 at the UN headquarters in New York during the second ID2020 Summit promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the period up to 2030 to ensure the legal identity of all people on the planet.
The development takes place under the aegis of the UN, since it aims to help undocumented people (refugees, victims of disasters, wars, repression) to access basic education and health services. It is assumed that there are more than a billion such people all over the world. These are mainly people from Africa and Latin America.
To do this, Microsoft and Accenture are developing a blockchain-based database that will allow several parties to have temporary or permanent access to people's identity data. Verification of compliance of a specific person with documents in the database will be carried out using biometric data (fingerprints, iris, fase-id).
Similar cases:
- Known Traveler Digital Identity. Collects biometric, biographical, and historical traveler data to help authorities carry out a risk assessment and preliminary identity check in advance.
- IBM Blockchain Trusted Identity. Uses artificial intelligence, the standards of the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) and the World Wide Web (W3C) for managing digital identities.
- uPort. Allows anyone to register their own identity on the Ethereum distributed network and then use it for online identity verification.
# 2. Walt Disney: Inventory tracking
Walt Disney started developing its own blockchain back in 2014. The project was named Dragonchain, and it was assumed that this would be a corporate solution for inventory management. With it, the multimedia giant planned to digitize all its assets and relationships with partners and customers. That is, all the property - from Disneyland to Mickey Mouse.
However, in 2016, something went wrong and the company decided to abandon the project by opening its source code for general use. Shortly thereafter, the project developers left Walt Disney and founded the non-profit organization Dragonchain Foundation, which is developing the protocol. In other words, Walt Disney created a blockchain and let it float freely - atypical but quite viable use case.
Similar cases:
- Oracle Blockchain Platform. Corporate blockchain solution sharpened by financial, commercial and administrative business processes.
- IBM Blockchain Platform. Hyperledger Fabric blockchain-based platform that has products for supply chains, personal identification, inventory management, and several other solutions.
- Amazon Managed Blockchain. The platform simplifies and accelerates the development and launch of networks based on Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum blockchains. It has its own Amazon QLDB centralized solution for enterprise tasks.
# 3. GSBN: Cargo shipping
The Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) is a consortium of nine leading sea carriers and terminal operators, established on November 6, 2018. The consortium participants intend to jointly develop a blockchain platform and set standards to facilitate the smooth exchange of documents and data at all stages of the delivery life cycle. The pilot project was launched in December 2018.
Similar cases:
- TradeLens. Blockchain platform for managing logistics and supply chains. Developed by Maersk and IBM in the summer of 2018. The project involves 100 major sea carriers and port operators. Now TradeLens serves about 30% of the shipping market.
- VeChain. Chinese BaaS platform, sharpened by the creation of networks for managing logistics and supply chains. VeChain use Renault, BMW, H & M Group, DNV-GL and other famous brands.
- Walmart. A network retailer uses blockchain to track food in the supply chain - from the farmer to the shelf in the store.
# 4. Facebook: Currency and data management
In February 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, in an interview with Harvard University Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain, said that Facebook was “potentially interested” in developing a blockchain solution for identifying users via Facebook Connect. At the same time, the system should work in such a way that users can choose which applications and organizations provide their own identification and personal data.
It is also known that Facebook plans to launch its own cryptocurrency, which is likely to be integrated with WhatsApp. The development of FBCoin (the unofficial name of the Facebook coin) is led by David Markus, who previously held the post of president of PayPal.
Similar cases:
- R3 CEV. Platform for interbank cash transactions developed by JP Morgan with the participation of Royal Bank of Canada and ANZ based on the Quorum blockchain.
- Gram. Cryptocurrency messenger Telegram based on its own Telegram Open Network (TON). More than $ 2.5 billion was raised for the project. According to media reports, the launch is planned in the second half of 2019.
- Ripple. Cryptocurrency platform for servicing interbank payments.
# 5. Nasdaq: Tokenization of the securities market
In 2015, Nasdaq introduced the LINQ platform, through which private companies can search for private investors by issuing and selling securities and other assets that give joint ownership. The first LINQ users were ChangeTip, Synack, Chain.com, PeerNova, Synack, Vera and Tango.
In the same year, the Nasdaq created an application for its Estonian unit that will allow members to vote and appoint proxies. The project was named Tallinn. With it, participants in business processes can reduce management costs by making online voting easier and more reliable.
In 2017, Nasdaq, together with SEB, conducted tests of blockchain solutions for tokenization of securities, developed for Swedish mutual funds. The solution was developed with the technical partnership of Symbiont.
Similar cases:
- Jakarta Futures Exchange (JFX). The exchange together with Kinesis is working on a solution for the tokenization of valuable metals (gold, silver).
- Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). In partnership with a start-up distributed Digital Asset has created a system for processing post-trading operations.
- Bithumb Korea Exchange. A blockchain start-up to develop an off-exchange solution that will enable small companies to issue and trade in securities has been launched.
# 6. Apple: Timestamp certification system
In 2017, Apple filed a patent for the use of blockchain technology in a program that will create and verify timestamps. According to the description, this program can be used to certify digital signatures and fight hackers.
# 7. Siemens: Tokenization of the electricity market
Member organizations: LO3 Energy, Siemens, Digital Grid and 47 more companies.
Project status: At the development stage. In 2019, a “simulation” electricity market will be launched. Access to network testing is free for all Brooklyn residents. More than 400 households are already participating in the project.
Sources: Brooklyn.energy.
The Brooklyn start-up LO3 Energy, with a technical partnership with Siemens, developed a system of electrical microgrids, the participants of which will be able to sell excess electricity to their neighbors. You can get energy for sale as you please, but the focus is on solar electricity. The platform is called Brooklyn Microgrid.
The system uses TAG-e G2 computing devices to connect to an intelligent electricity meter and transfer data on electricity consumption or generation to the blockchain platform. That is, if you connect a solar panel and it produces more electricity than you currently consume, it will be sold to neighbors. The blockchain platform is responsible for handling these processes and financial calculations.
Similar cases:
- Centrica. The largest electricity supplier in the UK in collaboration with the startup LO3 Energy launched a platform similar to the Brooklyn Microgrid project.
- Tokyo Electric Power. The Japanese electricity supplier has also developed a blockchain network for selling excess electricity. The platform is called Electron.
- RWE. The German energy giant in the technical partnership Slock.it launched a project, sharpened under the charging system of electric cars.
# 8. Visa: Processing Cross-Border Payments
In 2016, Visa announced the start of work on a system for corporate cross-border transfers, which was called B2B Connect. With this solution, banks and other financial institutions will be able to digitally identify counterparties and process payment transactions in three steps. It's easier, cheaper and faster than ordinary banking transactions.
Similar cases:
- Mastercard. The company received two patents. One describes a blockchain network for processing “pass-through transactions”: you pay for a merchandise store, the store pays your supplier, and that to the manufacturer. The second application describes a multicurrency blockchain platform.
# 9 We.Trade: Digital trading platform for banks and enterprises
In January 2017, a group of seven large European banks, jointly with IBM, established Digital Trade Chain, a venture capital firm, to work on the We.Trade project. The solution based on the blockchain technology, focused on small and medium businesses, should connect the parties involved in the trade transaction: sellers, buyers, carriers and banks.
In the summer of 2018, Digital Trade Chain announced the start of network testing and the first successful cross-border operation. In early 2019, the official launch of the project. This product is now available for commercial use in 11 European countries.
Similar cases:
- United Airlines. The airline, together with Airlines Reporting Corp (ARC), received confirmation of the concept of the blockchain application for air ticket services. Participants tested smart contracts for settlement operations and reporting on direct and indirect ticket sales. Soon it is planned to launch a network with one of United Airlines corporate clients.
- Honeywell. The company is working on a platform for the sale of aviation parts. The project was named GoDirect Trade. Honeywell uses blockchain and smart contracts to ensure that the appearance, documentation and price of the product on the site match what the buyer receives.
# 10. Baidu: Intellectual Property Management
The Chinese search giant has developed the Totem platform based on its own blockchain, XuperChain. The goal of the project is to protect intellectual property rights. In fact, it is a patent office on the blockchain, but without special legal status. The system simply checks the digital content for originality and assigns a creation timestamp to it (the time when the photo, audio or video was uploaded to the system).
In addition, the company launched the Baidu Blockchain Engine (BBE) open platform. This is a kind of operating system that allows you to create decentralized blockchain applications just like mobile ones, in order to overcome the bottlenecks in the storage of information and computing resources.
Similar cases:
- Mediachain. Platform for the protection of copyright on digital content, which uses the blockchain to store data about photos and pictures, information about the author and the time of creation.
- Stem. The system evaluates the demand for music among listeners (counts statistics from Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube) and calculates a fair price of deductions for their sale or reproduction.
- Bittunes. Trading P2P-platform for the sale of photos, audio and video.
