From payment platforms to vaccine supply chain management firms, here are our picks for the top blockchain startups in the APAC region.
Blockchain technology was first developed in 2008, designed as a public transaction ledger for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Decentralised ledger technology has since been adopted by various industries, with applications ranging from cyptocurrency exchange platforms and web development to decentralised publishing infrastructures and waste-eliminating supply chain traceability software. Here are our picks for the top APAC-based blockchain startups you should know.
AgriDigital
Emma Weston, CEO and Co-Founder at AgriDigital, says emerging digital technologies are the way to create cost-effective, efficient, and world-leading agri-commodity management and supply chain solutions with global impact. Despite farmers being key players in agriculture, they are often given the smallest stake in the matter. Using blockchain technology, Agridigital users are given live information about the location and status of an asset at any given time as it moves through the supply chain. Actors across the agricultural supply chain, including buyers, farmers, and storage operators, can operate and interact on the platform for transactions of their commodities.
LikeCoin
LikeCoin is a Hong Kong-based decentralised publishing infrastructure that empowers content ownership, authenticity, and provenance. Content creators can record digital content metadata and guarantee its integrity through LikeCoin’s content registry protocol. Meanwhile, the actual content is stored on decentralised storage solutions such as Arweave and the InterPlanetary File System. In other words, LikeCoin allows journalists and writers to register, store, and distribute their content on a decentralised platform. Local news outlets Stand News and Citizen News currently use LikeCoin to catalog their content.
bitFlyer
Helmed by ex-Goldman Sachs Equity Derivatives Trader Yuzo Kano, Tokyo-headquartered global cryptocurrency firm bitFlyer was founded in 2014, and now has over 2.5 million users worldwide. The trading platform is based on blockchain-type database “Miyabi” capable of processing 2,000 crypto-transactions per second, which allows the cryptocurrency exchange to operate and process transactions across Europe, the US, and Japan. Users of the bitFlyer exchange can buy or sell cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin using credit cards.
Fishcoin
Developed by Singapore-based Eachmile Technologies, Fishcoin, a blockchain tracing system, aims to solve traceability challenges for sustainable seafood. Asia accounts for almost 90% of the global production of seafood, but more than 30% are said to be caught by illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishers. While some buyers and retailers are tracing their seafood products, Fishcoin thinks the supply chain still needs more work.
Fishcoin was designed as a peer-to-peer network that incentivises data sharing. Fishermen who make the effort to capture and communicate data about their catches are rewarded with tokens for topping up their mobile phone data plans. In turn, buyers and retailers such as hotels and restaurants can then leverage traceability to support key business improvements and decisions.
What’s more, the WWF in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand teamed up with global blockchain venture studio ConsenSys, TraSeable, and SeaQuest to develop the Blockchain Tuna Project, a blockchain tuna tracking app.
Atix Labs
Singapore and Argentina-based decentralised solutions firm Atix uses blockchain technology to match social impact enterprises in Southeast Asia to funders and investors across the world. Ledger technology has allowed for more efficient and reliable remittance transfers and crowdsourcing efforts. Although there are many avenues to access capital, the lack of transparency between the enterprises who receive funding and investors is still an issue that needs to be fixed. As part of their mission to democratise social impact financing, Atix aims to foster accountability mechanisms and ensure consensus for stakeholders.
StaTwig
Originally founded in 2016 to eliminate complications in global vaccine supply chains, the Hyderabad-based blockchain startup StaTwig has recently partnered with Tech Mahindra on a blockchain-based product for tracing global vaccine supply chains. The lack of an adequate “cold chain”, which refers to a low-temperature storage solutions in the supply chain, has been an issue for India’s Covid containment. While the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored at conditions between 2.8 degrees Celsius, India does not have the technology required to store mRNA vaccines such as the Pfizer vaccine, which requires a storage temperature of -80 degrees Celsius.
The two companies are developing the VaccineLedger blockchain, a ledger designed to improve transparency and prevent failures in vaccine supply, including the distribution of expired vaccines, stock depletion, and counterfeiting.
Ekoios Technology
Vietnam and Japan-based Ekoios Technology is a startup that constantly engages and consults customers to transform and revolutionise companies and businesses. With state-of-the-art technology such as their AI chatbot, cloud services platform, mobile app development, and blockchain, their team of industry experts deliver disruptive tech solutions for web development and the cryptocurrency space.
BSOS
BSOS leverages blockchain technology to resolve authenticity and liquidity complications in supply chain finance processes, connecting real world assets with capital providers, from banks to cryptocurrency markets. The Taiwanese supply chain management firm’s product, SUPLEX, is an innovative supply chain SaaS software that optimises cash flow for corporates and banks including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Taipei Fubon Bank, Cathay Financial Holdings, and ConsenSys.
BSOS has been named as “Best Supply Chain Finance Application” and a “Global Top 35 Blockchain Company” by J.P. Morgan’s blockchain platform Quorum and CB Insights respectively.
Perlin
CEO Dorjee Sun co-founded Singapore-based Perlin with a vision for a more inclusive, democratised, and fair decentralised global economy by harnessing the vast untapped potential of blockchain technology for positive disruptive change across industries. Perlin’s decentralised ledger Wavelet optimises supply chain traceability and eliminates waste from consumer packaged goods. The blockchain can also be used as an anti-counterfeiting tool that allows companies to protect their products and brands, addressing the vast negative impacts of counterfeiting and piracy which has led to a total loss of US$4.2 trillion from the global economy.
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