Blockchain in Supply Chain Transparency

B2B and B2C Implementation Models

How companies integrate blockchain into their supply chain can be categorised under two umbrellas. In the B2B (business-to-business) model, the blockchain syncs with internal databases to track the flow of materials and related data: source, date of sourcing, companies involved, transport conditions, and manufacturing steps. Industries implementing this include healthcare, automotive, and oil & gas. In the B2C (business-to-consumer) model, blockchain empowers consumers to trace product origins, particularly for products carrying stigma of exploitation or frequently counterfeited. This revolves around transparency, provenance, and authenticity in industries like gemstones, fashion, and food. Blockchain is secure, private, and effectively impossible to tamper with -- any alterations must be appended as new entries.

The Common Misconception

The Harvard Business Review and McKinsey have led many to believe that only private, permissioned blockchains are viable for supply chains. The general consensus can be summarised as: the only way blockchain can work is if purpose-built, private, and centralised. This misconception spawns from assuming that public means sensitive data in plaintext. But the truth is more nuanced. The public blockchain is indeed public -- anyone can write to and read from it -- but entries on the network are not necessarily findable, identifiable, or legible by the public. Anonymisation, encryption, and obfuscation are integrated right into the public blockchain. Many companies have avoided blockchain implementations altogether due to the plethora of problems with private blockchains: they are expensive, slow, and intransparent.

Beyond Track & Trace

Imagine a future where companies worldwide publish supply chain records to the public blockchain, controlling who has access to which information. This enables unprecedented interoperability: new partnerships can hit the ground running with no ERP tech issues and no expensive consortium blockchain bureaucracy. With each company publishing goods movement through every step, very granular CO2 emissions data can be calculated and automatically attributed and offset. When goods cross borders, all verification data can be securely stored on the public blockchain, enhancing workflow with trust for all parties. And accounting figures can be stored right alongside supply chain data, enabling governments to continuously track invoice flows and do real-time, automatic tax processing.

• Unprecedented Interoperability: Instant cross-border partnerships
• Granular CO2 Tracking: Automatic emissions attribution and offset
• Enhanced Border Control: Trusted cross-border verification
• Streamlined Taxes: Real-time VAT processing alongside supply chain data

Building on the Public Blockchain

The cost, slow speed, and intransparency of private blockchains are simply not needed when building on the public blockchain is sufficiently secure and private. What mintBlue brings is a customisable SDK with an API that interfaces with the public blockchain. You can connect your current ERP/logistics platform right to the blockchain with minimal overhead, embed support if you're already on a blockchain platform, and have solutions built in-house or custom-built by mintBlue engineers. For B2B, every company in the process can move away from expensive private databases and collectively use the public blockchain. For B2C, the distributed and immutable nature increases consumer trust in a way that private blockchains, where companies control their own records, simply cannot.