The days of dodgy car dealers selling duds could be numbered, with one of the world’s biggest car sales websites today announcing the launch of a ‘know-your-vehicle’ blockchain platform to trace the history of used vehicles.

The platform has been developed by Singaporean company, sgCarMart.com, and will utilise data sharing blockchain technology created by Ocean Protocol.

“Currently, customers wanting to buy a used car will need to rely on information provided by the current owner or used car dealer. There will be a natural tendency to understate or not reveal defects of the vehicle,” Glenn Ong, General Manager of sgCarMart told Micky.

“Buyers can rely on 3rd party inspection centres to do a check but matters like odometer tampering can still go undetected.”

To generate the used car data, sgCarMart will operate a used car ‘data market place’ using Ocean Protocol’s business model which rewards individuals and companies for data.

“Data is everywhere but a vast amount of it is currently locked up due to friction surrounding data sharing,” says Daryl Arnold, founder of Ocean Protocol.

“Ocean Protocol provides companies with a platform to share and monetize data in a secure, traceable, and privacy-preserving manner.

“It allows data owners to retain control of data access and offers an incentive mechanism for companies to deploy, to collect quality data from their stakeholders.”

sgCarMart attracts around two million car buyers and sellers every month and, if successful, the company says it will consider ways its data sharing blockchain platform could be used by other businesses.