Commonwealth Bank, one of the “big 4” Australian banks, has announced that it has successfully completed an experimental blockchain-based project which involved the shipping of 17 tons of almonds from Australia to Germany. The project was executed by the bank in association with five supply chain companies, and involved a permissioned blockchain based on Ethereum.

Permissioned blockchains, in contrast to public blockchains, only allow approved nodes to serve as validators on the network, whereas public blockchains allow anyone to function as a node. The adoption of permissioned blockchains can be a good sign of the normalization and acceptance of blockchain tech, but these blockchains forgo the principle of decentralization which was a catalyst for the development Bitcoin and therefore blockchain in the first place. In such a system, only a set of centrally-approved validators can decide what the real state of the blockchain is.

The process involved constant monitoring of factors such as humidity and temperature through IoT (internet of things) devices, while providing an increased level of transparency about the state of the shipment.

Commonwealth Bank’s Chris Scougall commented:

“Our blockchain-enabled global trade platform experiment brought to life the idea of a modern global supply chain that is agile, efficient and transparent. We believe that blockchain can help our partners reduce the burden of administration on their businesses and enable them to deliver best-in-class services to their customers.”

Supply chain management is often seen as one of the premier use-cases for blockchain technology, particularly when it comes to ensuring the authenticity of products. Several projects dedicated to the supply chain sector have emerged, including VeChain, Waltonchain, OriginTrail, Ambrosus, and TE-FOOD.