The VeChain price spiked by a third in less than an hour, following confirmation the cryptocurrency had partnered with Walmart in China.

Just before 1pm AEST Tom Foth, senior director at Price Waterhouse Coopers posted a brief update on Twitter.

“At the Walmart, Vechain, PwC announcement food safety tracking of foods Walmart sells in China. Vechain is providing the blockchain technology.”

I really wan to wait for official release. And PwC Fellows are quite proud for what we have achieved together. https://t.co/inYlxpo9nO — Sunny LU, VeChain (@sunshinelu24) June 25, 2019

VeChain CEO Sunny Lu confirms the news

VeChain CEO Sunny Lu followed that up shortly after with a series of tweets:

“I really want to wait for official release. And PwC Fellows are quite proud for what we have achieved together.

“1. It shows big enterprise like Walmart to explore production application to not only Private but Public Blockchain

“2. It’s truly and definitely mass adoption not only reaching to consumers but also aligning with more than 500 food suppliers batch by batch in a same replicated mode

3. Perfect collaboration with PwC and it’s replicable!

4. Technically, cross-chain protocol between VeChain and the other is done. And we are ready to future model, I quote from someone from IBM “hybrid model is the future”

5. That’s what I called Significant Meanings to the entire Blockchain space. It shows the right way!

6. It’s not just a “partnership”, and it’s a live project and application with valuable transactions to be seen by consumers.”

The Vechain price, which has been bumbling along well under 1 cent for months now, suddenly spiked from .00785 to .010266.

VeChain is a supply chain tracking cryptocurrency. At the recent VeChain summit in April, Sunny Lu had foreshadowed an announcement from one of PwC’s clients in “a significant milestone to the entire blockchain space”.

Walmart China is HUGE

Walmart has operated in China since 1996 when it opened its first Walmart Hypermarket in Shenzhen.

The company has now grown to 426 stores, 8 dry distribution centers and 11 fresh distribution centers in 169 cities across the country with about 100,000 associates.

Walmart China has established partnerships with over 7,000 Chinese suppliers, and more than 95% of the merchandise it sells is sourced locally.

Walmart has served over 6 billion customers and members in China.

UPDATED: Walmart China provides further details

The project is officially called the ‘Blockchain Food Safety and Traceability Platform’ and is a partnership between Walmart China, VeChain, PwC, China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA), Kerchin, and various other food producers.

Wal-Mart will use VeChain’s blockchain technology to verify products along the supply chain. Customers will be able to scan products directly through WeChat as they browse products in stores.

There are 23 product lines so far that have already been launched on the platform, which is expected to scale to 100 by the end of the year.

Product categories include fresh meat product, rice, mushrooms, cooking oil.

There are big plans for the system, with traceable meat accounting for 50% of total sales of packaged fresh meat, traceable vegetables will account for 40% of the total sales of packaged vegetables, traceable seafood will account for 12.5% of the total sales of seafood by the end of 2020.