IBM Tackles Food Safety With Blockchain

With the price of bitcoin, the first and most prominent cryptocurrency, soaring this year, the underlying blockchain technology has gotten a lot of attention. A blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions, secured using cryptography and distributed across a network. All bitcoin transactions are stored on a blockchain, but the technology could have much broader applications.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is one company moving fast to explore the possibilities presented by blockchain. Earlier this year, the company announced a deal with a consortium of seven European banks to build a blockchain-based platform for trade finance. The platform aims to simplify trade financing processes and expand access to credit by lowering costs.

Finance isn't the only area where blockchain is useful. Any situation where multiple parties must maintain records and verify those records against those of the other parties could be well suited for blockchain. Food safety is a good example. According to IBM, tracking the source of contamination in a food supply chain typically takes weeks, or even months in some cases. That lag can lead to more illness for consumers and higher costs for producers.

Source: Fool.com