Upcoming Crypto Storm? China Successfully Completes International Shipment Using a Blockchain

In what could be a historic move, China and Singapore utilized the blockchain to completed a gasoline shipment between their borders on April 2, 2018. The act is among the first instances of international shipping via the blockchain and serves as a beautiful use-case for skeptics of the technology.

Use Cases and Adoption

Tens years after bitcoin’s introduction, the world is yet to wake up to the advancements and efficiencies of using a blockchain based systems. Traditional media outlets have so far focused on price volatility, while completely ignoring the technology that underpins every cryptocurrency.

However, in the past few months, BTCManager has observed several use-cases of blockchain by governments and institutions. Successful, real-world tests would only increase faith in a blockchain powered world, fueled by decentralized cryptocurrencies.

The shipping and logistics sector is among the most suited for a smart contract or blockchain environment, with the others being financial services and possibly administrative innovations.

As most of the world debates over Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and virtual currencies, China and Singapore went ahead and successfully conducted an international shipment via the blockchain.

Many cryptocurrency businesses are headquartered in Singapore, with China closely leading the race, and with such experiments, it seems prudent that an upcoming revolution is brewing in that part of the world.

Shipment Done by China’s Largest Firm

The shipment of gasoline was conducted by Sinochem Energy Technology Co. Ltd, which is wholly owned by the Government’s Sinochem Corporation. The shipment was sent from the Chinese city of Quanzhou to the port of Singapore, and the company claimed:

“It is the first time that blockchain applications have been applied to all key participants in the commodity trading process.”

In a press release, the company deemed that the cross-border trial was the first step towards implementing blockchains in China’s energy and petrochemical industry.

“The technology is seen as a way to simplify complex and lengthy transactions in energy trading and reduce costs by digitizing key documents,” according to a Reuters report relating to the matter.

It must be noted that the state-owned Sinochem Group is no stranger to implementing blockchain, as they conducted the world’s first crude oil blockchain import transaction in December 2017.

In a statement, the group said that smart contracts and digitally-generated bills cause a significant enhancement in the “execution efficiency,” and using blockchain can optimize “20 [percent] to 30 [percent] of the financing costs.”

By improving transaction efficiency, the company believes that using blockchain technology effectively decreases risks pertaining to this industry.

China-U.S Blockchain Use In Agriculture Trade

Another blockchain effort by the Chinese government was trialed in January 2018, when the eastern superpower imported a container of soybeans from the U.S. It was the world’s first global agricultural trade using a distributed ledger.

Embedded in the transaction’s smart contract were a handful of documents including a letter of credit, a sales contract, and relevant certificates.

Later, the companies involved in this shipment concluded the benefits of using blockchain, which included saving time and reducing costs five-fold. This improvement is possible mainly due to the use of a smart contract.

With all this in mind, we certainly can’t predict where the price of cryptocurrencies would be in a few months, but with governments conducting successful experiments, one thing is for sure: The crypto storm is coming soon.

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