Blockchain Yields Strong Potential in Global Supply Chain Management

Investors looking to diversify their portfolios and gain access to the multi-billion-dollar global blockchain industry should have some exciting options as 2018 progresses, particularly when it comes to the $13 billion global supply chain management (SCM) market.

The immutable, distributed ledger technology known as blockchain can deliver numerous SCM efficiencies that could revolutionize logistics for a variety of sectors, including oil and gas. Petroteq Energy Inc. has already envisioned this future of networked intelligent devices, and has initiated the development of the oil and gas industry's first dedicated blockchain-based based SCM platform, PetroBloq.

Investors can also look to diversification into this burgeoning new space via first-movers like oil and gas giant BP, and tech companies like IBM, Advanced Micro Devices and Eastman Kodak.

As blockchain is ideal for virtually any kind of records management activity, it has the potential to become the backbone tracking architecture for an evolving and fully transparent grid of digitized assets, documents and transactions. This transparency will have a transformative impact on everything -- from regulatory compliance to more efficient multi-company collaboration on projects.

BP and Royal Dutch Shell have also formed a powerhouse consortium to deliver a blockchain-based platform for trading energy commodities, while IBM and the world's largest container line, Maersk, have partnered to develop a trade digitization SCM platform built on blockchain technology for the sprawling global shipping ecosystem.

IBM's endeavor in particular accentuates the potential of a dedicated SCM platform like Petroteq Energy's PetroBloq, showcasing the increasing demand and acceptance for such innovation.

Real-time, transparent and secure features like self-executing smart contracts, an automatic audit trail for regulators, and the ability to enable peer-to-peer trading models could revolutionize logistics management for oil and gas producers, potentially saving billions of dollars by replacing antiquated electronic and paper standards.

In fact, highly localized peer-to-peer energy markets could be right around the corner, forcing utilities in particular to adapt. Encryption-based blockchain platforms will create secure digital records of every unit of energy, piece of equipment, shipment in transit, and contract being traded, while also vastly improving security, reliability and producer/consumer confidence.