Walmart has become the latest major conglomerate to join open-source blockchain consortium Hyperledger. Walmart is among eight new members to join the platform. The new members were announced on March 3 at the Hyperledger Global Forum 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sanjay Radhakrishnan, the vice president of Walmart Global Tech, expressed excitement in joining the platform, stating:

“We've seen strong results through our various deployments of blockchain, and believe staying involved in open source communities will further transform the future of our business."

Hyperledger was launched in 2016 and is hosted by the Linux Foundation. The platform aims to “advance cross-industry blockchain technologies,” and has received contributions from IBM and Intel.

Hyperledger announces new service providers

The opening day of the Forum saw eight new Hyperledger members announced including Aiou Technology, a subsidiary of blockchain network IOST, business-to-business smart contracts firm Clear and Swiss-based blockchain services company Tangem.

Six new Hyperledger Certified Service Providers were also revealed, including Beijing Proinsight Technology, Kompitech, LimeChain, Mindtree, Xoaa, and Zhigui.

Brian Behlendor, the executive director of Hyperledger, stated:

“Adding this great mix of new members and HCSPs is a great opening act for Hyperledger Global Forum."

Walmart embraces blockchain technology

Walmart's entry into Hyperledger comes nearly half a decade after the conglomerate first experimented with the platform.

In October 2016, Walmart partnered with IBM and China’s Tsinghua University to conduct a pilot program using Hyperledger to track the Chinese pork market. The program sought to improve food safety by identifying potential contaminations at their source in the supply chain.

Walmart soon started filing patents relating to blockchain technology, with the company filing to patent a system using blockchain technology to trace packages delivered by drones during May 2017.

2018 saw Walmart make numerous filings with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, including patents targeting payments, shipping, and supply chain systems.

During June 2019, Walmart joined the pharmaceutical-track blockchain consortium Mediledger. Last month, MediLedger published a report urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration adopt blockchain technology to trace drug distribution and discourage the black market opiate traded.