Waltonchain is a China-based IoT project focused on building secure and reliable business ecosystems on the blockchain with proprietary RFID chips. The Waltonchain platform enables merchants and businesses to build subchains that fit their specific needs while providing the framework to conduct business through timestamped and immutable transactions on the blockchain. With Waltonchain’s RFID technology, the blockchain is able to autonomously track physical goods through the whole supply chain process – from raw materials to delivery of a finished product. By maintaining such a fine level of traceability, Waltonchain successfully battles data tampering and counterfeit goods. WTC is the utility token on the Waltonchain network, and it can be traded on Huobi Global against BTC and ETH pairs.
Advantages of the Waltonchain Platform
Compared to traditional supply chain processes, Waltonchain has five major advantages – high security, high traceability, high scalability, anti-counterfeiting, and reduction of business costs.
High Security
Security on the Waltonchain platform is derived from its immutable blockchain that encourages decentralization through staking incentives for masternodes. Anyone who stakes 5,000 WTC or more is eligible to become a masternode and will receive rewards for providing network services.
High Traceability
High traceability in the Waltonchain ecosystem is possible via proprietary RFID tag chips and RFID reader/writer control chips which also act as Waltonchain nodes. Compared to typical RFID chips, Waltonchains’ chips offer a number of extended features.
- An encryption/decryption module is built into each chip, enabling safer communication between the tag chip and reader/writer chips.
- Hash processing logic is built into the chip, enabling secure hashing which can be automatically recorded onto the immutable Waltonchain blockchain.
- The RFID tag chip has built-in memory to store its hash status and key information, making the chip less prone to data tampering.
- At scale, Waltonchain’s RFID chips consume less power than traditional RFID chips, while providing more features.
The RFID tags can be embedded into physical goods in the raw materials stage, which allows for high traceability during manufacturing and shipping processes. As a commodity makes its way through the supply chain, each “processing stop” can use the RFID reader/writer chip to confirm the legitimacy of the commodity.
A demonstration of Waltonchain RFID technology. (Courtesy of Boxmining)
For example, this RFID ecosystem can be used to confirm the authenticity of automobile parts during different steps of the assembly line. This RFID system also aids in the decentralization of the Waltonchain network because every business entity that uses the Waltonchain platform will have its own node through the RFID reader/writer chip.
High Scalability
Waltonchain’s platform enables businesses to build and use child chains that don’t directly affect the performance of a parent chain on a consistent basis. Not all businesses require constant use of the public chain, and some may elect to use a private chain with a different consensus algorithm suited to their specific needs. Secondly, Waltonchain itself adopts a PoST + PoW consensus algorithm that can handle larger transaction volumes compared to traditional PoW blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Anti-Counterfeiting
Waltonchain’s high traceability via RFID technology and immutable blockchain reduces the chance of counterfeiting. Since products can be finely tracked from the raw materials stage all the way to delivery on a secure public ledger, both businesses and clients can be certain of a product’s authenticity.
Reduction of Business Costs
Waltonchain provides businesses with high security, high traceability, and anti-counterfeiting. Thus, businesses can (in theory) reduce the size of teams employed for these purposes. This would enable businesses to redirect those funds to R&D and marketing to improve products for their users.
How Waltonchain Can be Used in the Real World
Here are two real-world examples of how Waltonchain can be used to add security, traceability, and anti-counterfeiting to the supply chain.
- A manufacturer of premium sake in Japan embeds an RFID tag into their bottles. When a customer receives the bottle, he or she can verify the authenticity of the bottle via the blockchain.
- A clothing manufacturer ships finished garments embedded with RFID tags. The garments are then shipped to various distributors around the world. Each distributor can check the authenticity of the garments to ensure they weren’t swapped with fakes during the shipping process.
Conclusion
Waltonchain is one of the few blockchain projects that have legitimate use cases, and I see true value in the WTC token. With so many products being designed and so many new factories opening up around the world, some estimate the global logistics industry to be worth over $15 trillion by 2023.
WTC/BTC trading on Huobi Global.
There’s an obvious demand for supply chain traceability and optimization, and I believe Waltonchain with their purpose-built blockchain and proprietary RFID chips is in a great position to become a major player in the space. This project is definitely one to keep a close eye on.