Leading Latin America investment bank BTG Pactual joined the organizing committee of the Post-Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group. Alliance for blockchain use Industry news outlet LedgerInsights reported on Aug. 15 that Brazil-based bank BTG Pactual joined PTDL Group’s organizing committee. PTDL Group reportedly provides a platform allowing market participants to share information on blockchain and discuss applications in the financial services sector. According to its official website, PTDL Group includes nearly 40 financial institutions and prominent market infrastructure players. The organization also claims that it is playing a role in shaping the recommendations of regulators. Namely: “Practitioners, regulators, and central …

Public enterprise blockchain platform VeChain has partnered with Autralian winemaker Penfolds to release a case of blockchain-encrypted wine bottles for sale, as part of its Wine Traceability Platform (WTP) initiative. More specifically, the launch of Penfolds Bin 407 in July marks the beginning of VeChain’s WTP phase 2, per a press release from VeChain on Aug. 6. The bottles from this case are reportedly available at the Waigaoqiao International Alcohol Exhibition & Trading Center, D.I.G.’s Flagship Store and the Sen Lan Shang Du in Pudong New District. As per the press release, each bottle inside Bin 407 comes attached with …

The grocery sector is responsible for nearly half of all Distributed Ledger Technology-based (DLT) supply chain projects. UCL: grocery most active in DLT tracking Research conducted by the University College London centre for blockchain and retail blockchain consortium and published on Aug. 4 shows that the grocery industry has the highest number of DLT-based supply chain tracking projects. Per the report, nearly half of all the projects analyzed operate within the grocery sector, while about 15% respectively operate in the healthcare and fashion industries. Lastly, about 39% operate in other, unspecified areas. Among these, the researchers found many non-sector specific …

CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital Michael Novogratz said that vegetarian meat startup Beyond Meat reminds him of cryptocurrencies in 2017. Novogratz delivered his comments in an interview with CNBC published on August 1. Innovation brings speculation, creating bubbles During the interview, Novogratz declared that Beyond Meat reminds him of the state of the crypto market in 2017, suggesting that the price is in bubble territory given its parabolic rise this summer. He further provided an analysis of the phenomena and some grim predictions concerning the stock: “I think big ideas grab the attention of people, you see. You …

Blockchain startup Lumachain has received $2.4 million in public funding from Main Sequence Ventures, a $165.6 million venture capital fund backed by the Australian government and the federal Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Lumachain’s newly-received funds will go toward staffing fees as well as international expansion, according to a report by local financial news periodical the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on July 29. Lumachain reportedly uses blockchain technology to track and trace the condition and whereabouts of food products along the supply chain in real time. According to Lumachain’s website, founder Jamila Gordon says the goal of her blockchain …

Bitcoin (BTC) rewards shopping app Lolli has partnered with major American grocery chain Safeway to give customers 3.5% back in Bitcoin on all their purchases. Making Bitcoin ‘part of everyday life’ According to a blog post announcing the new partnership on July 25, Safeway – and Albertsons Companies’ subsidiary – operates 894 locations across 17 American states. The system will reward customers in Satoshis (sats) — the name given to one hundred millionth of one Bitcoin — the smallest unit of the cryptocurrency. In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, Lolli CEO & co-founder Alex Adelman said that teaming up with …

Brazilian coffee farming cooperative Minasul plans to issue a coffee-backed token, Bloomberg reported on July 11. According to Bloomberg, Minasul’s president Jose Marcos Magalhaes declared at the Global Coffee Forum in Campinas that Minasul intends to launch the token this month. Farmers will reportedly be able to use the coin to buy fertilizer, machinery and other non-farm products — including cars and food — in a digital marketplace. Per the report, farmers will also be able to acquire the token in exchange for current and future coffee beans production: 30% of the current harvest, 20% of the next crop, and …

As blockchain continues to push for mass adoption, the food and beverage industry is shaping up to be one of the most inclusive destinations for the technology: Just over the past few months, a variety of players — including juggernauts like Nestlé, Carrefour and Starbucks — have reported on their latest blockchain-powered initiatives within the field. Indeed, in 2019, blockchain has been piercing the food industry at an accelerated pace. According to recent research, 20% of the top-10 global grocers will use blockchain by 2025. So, what makes the technology so appealing for the food industry participants, and are there …

Tech giant Oracle and the World Bee Project are developing a blockchain-based sustainability assurance system for honey on the supply chain, according to a report by Ledger Insights on July 5. The honey-tracing blockchain will reportedly be developed on the Oracle Blockchain Platform. According to the report, this partnership aims to launch a “BeeMark” label, which is a purported guarantee that so-labeled honey comes from ecological and sustainable sources. In addition to blockchain technology, BeeMark also plans to make use of data science to monitor environmental factors pertaining to the bees’ surroundings. Oracle also plans to install monitoring systems inside …

Swiss-headquartered food retail giant Nestlé announced its intention to track its products along the supply chain with blockchain technology in a press release published on July 2. The project is jointly pursued with OpenSC. As Cointelegraph reported at the time, OpenSC is a blockchain platform launched through a partnership between WWF-Australia and global corporate venture BCG Digital Ventures in January. Nestlé claims that — thanks to this project — it becomes the first “major food and beverage company to announce that it will pilot open blockchain technology in this way.” With the OpenSC platform, consumers will reportedly have access to …

After struggling to receive recognition of legitimacy within the mainstream zeitgeist during its sophomoric years, distributed ledger technology (DLT) now comprises the driving force behind a new wave of technological creative destruction. Today, we are going to take a look at some of the industries and processes that are most dramatically undergoing a transformation in response to the advent of blockchain technology. Food The opaque nature of global supply chains poses a significant challenge to efforts to ensure that the commodities, labor and inputs required to produce goods are from a safe and ethical origin. In order to tackle these …

United States-based snack food company Brimhall Foods has partnered with Surge Holdings to deliver its BRIM’S products through a blockchain-based ordering system, according to a report by Foodprocessing-technology.com on June 27. According to the report, BRIM will be able to use the SurgePays blockchain network to access tens of thousands of new stores. Surge Holdings CEO Brian Cox says that BRIM will initially offer 15 products through its SurgePays blockchain network. Additionally, Cox remarks that these products can be ordered and replenished by their in-network convenience stores, corner markets, and bodegas. Additionally, Brimhall Foods Company president Terry Brimhall stated that …