VeChain (VEN) aims to establish a platform that enables the real world to interact with the blockchain via asset digitisation. Essentially, physical objects are given unique blockchain IDs, which are written into a chip (NCodes, RFiD, NFC, etc) and physically attached to an object, allowing it to be tracked and authenticated globally and instantly; more technically, VEN offers a proof of origin and of authentication.
For instance, VeChain will operate in the wine industry with the help of a DApp: My Story. The application works as follows: an NFC tag, the size of a pin, is integrated into the corkscrew of a wine bottle. The NFC chip can be scanned at any moment, and the characteristics of the wine will be recalled from the blockchain and shown. From the moment the bottle is opened, the chip breaks and an “alert” is written into the blockchain stating that the bottle was opened. This system makes it impossible for someone to swap the liquid or to lie regarding the provenance of the wine. Another case is in the luxury industry – tags are inserted directly into the leather, making them impossible to remove without altering the leather itself.
TEAM AND PARTNERSHIPS.
The VeChain team is one of the most impressive in the crypto-space when it comes to partnerships. We can categorise them on three levels: The national level, company partnerships, and technological ones which will build the hardware to be used on the VeChain blockchain. At first, many believe that VeChain is a supply chain management solution blockchain; however, it is more than that with partnerships across all industries from financial, real-estate, tobacco, automobile, and others.
National level partnership (China)
The most exciting partnership VeChain has is at the Chinese national level in the Gui’an New Area. Gui’an has been selected by the Chinese Central government to become the national data center of West China. The government aims at developing Gui’an into a smart-city using IoT (Internet of Things) and blockchain technologies. The area received RMB billions of funding for Big Data infrastructure scaling (for WiFi, 4G networks, and data centers). Currently, the area has already attracted 38 Fortune 500 companies, such as Apple, Huawei, Foxconn, Tencent, and Alibaba.
VeChain is providing the local government with a blockchain-based information system to: collect and analyze administrative data, offer data privacy protection, enable reforms in business registrations. As of now, VeChain has started to provide E-government blockchain solutions for business registration document storage (business certificates, tax registrations, audit reports, among others). In later stages, the regional government will be able to audit, verify, and issue documents remotely; saving time, while decreasing costs.
Enterprise level partnerships.
As said earlier, VeChain partnerships are among the most impressive within the cryptocurrency space. At the core of the partnership list, we have DNV GL which is one of the leading organisation providing certificate standards to companies, crucial to their operations. Not only does the company implements VeChain’s solutions within their current operations but also, works with VeChain to organise future implementations of blockchain technology.
VeChain also disclosed a partnership with the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the China National Tobacco Corporation (with the Chinese tobacco industry accounting for 30% of the world’s consumption of cigarettes). VEN will provide them with a proof of origin and technologies to track counterfeit tobacco through the entire supply chain.
Another announced partnership is the one with Fanghuwang – an enterprise focused on providing SMEs (small and medium enterprises) with mortgage loans using AI and Big Data analytics. This is the first disclosed partnerships with a firm operating in the financial services industry – demonstrating that VeChain is truly more than a sole supply chain management solution platform.
Other partnerships are listed below; however, in order to have more information, we invite you to read our article focussed on the subject as we provided an extensive list of companies, blockchain implementation examples and introduced some DApps to be used within their frameworks.
– DNV GL: the world’s largest assurance and classification of production processes company (21% of market share – issuing more than 80,000 accreditation certificates every year – VEN will be used to ensure that the data provided by their 80,000+ customers is trustworthy as well as allow them to fasten shipping times and regulatory processes.
– Kuehne & Nagel: biggest global sea freight company, accounting for 10% of the world’s air and sea freight business with over $20bn revenue – VEN will enable tracking of the parcels.
– BitOcean: A fully licensed ATM solution selling cryptos nationwide in Japan – enabling VEN to be purchased using physical ATMs.
– Healthcare Co: Company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and sponsoring Manchester United – estimated to use 20 millions RFiD chips every year working on the VeChain blockchain.
– Hubei Sanxin Cultural Media: company providing more than 100 million digital publications and books per year – VEN will provide a proof of origin, take care of the supply chain management and the accounting of digital publications and books.
Economic Model.
The complete economic model of VEN hasn’t yet been disclosed and is supposed to be made public on the 26th of February at the latest. However, we do know the conceptual framework.
Two tokens exist in the VeChain Ecosystem: VEN and THOR. Both have their own characteristics and use-cases, however, it is worth stressing that VEN token holders will generate THOR tokens if they leave their VEN in a privately-held wallet (proof of stake). Moreover, VeChain has also implemented a masternode system, rewarding holders of VEN securing the network, by giving them extra THOR and voting power for the consensus mechanism.
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The reward provided to the masternodes exists to decrease price fluctuations for the largest users of the platform. Companies will be able to use the system “for free” just by holding enough VEN to cover their operations. This is a very promising model for investors as the demand for VEN will increase over time while its supply will be decreasing, driving the price of the token up.
Summary:
VeChain is the major contender to become the go-to BaaS (blockchain as a service) for businesses given all the partnerships, collaborations, and trials the company is currently undertaking. Additionally, with VeChain being a Chinese blockchain, it may receive the blessing of the government (and already has to a certain degree, given the Gui’an partnership) – enabling it to become what Alibaba is to Amazon, or Baidu to Google.
In addition to the high probability of the VeChain platform being used, we are also excited by the economic model surrounding the project – the Proof of Stake (PoS) and masternode governance system. This system enables the token to appreciate more than proportionally with platform usage, as the supply of VEN should decrease over time while its demand increases.
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Disclaimer: We are long VEN