The topic of blockchains found its way into logistics a long time ago. There is much interest from the sector in this technology. It is hardly surprising, considering the many advantages this algorithm-based process provides.
Blockchain technology has the following features:
- Transparency: all transactions are codified in consecutive blocks on the chain.
- Tamper-proof: entries cannot subsequently be changed.
- Efficiency: transactions can be processed in a matter of seconds.
- Trustworthy: it builds trust between contracting parties who do not yet know each other but want to transact business. Since verification is based on algorithms, trust can be programmed into the process in the true meaning of the word.
- Cost-efficient: it cuts out the middleman, which reduces costs.
There is much interest in this technology within our industry. Yet, to date, there are only a few use cases which go beyond the proof-of-concept stage. One obstacle certainly is the lack of standards, either within a distributed ledger solution or between
various distributed ledger architectures.