JD.com, China’s largest online retailer as well as the world’s third largest retailer, is launching a blockchain accelerator with a selection of five blockchain startups.

Devery has been selected as JD.com’s supply chain tracking partner as part of a list of five promising blockchain startups. Each startup represents a key focus area for JD.com.

With more than 266 million active customers, JD is a direct seller of millions of brands from around the world and hosts a marketplace of more than 160,000 trusted merchants.

The company, which owns and operates its own advanced nationwide logistics systems, has embraced AI and blockchain across its operations and seeks to facilitate the growth of this disruptive technology and its benefits, including increased security, transparency and efficiency.

“Supply-chain tracking and identity management are fundamental use cases of the blockchain. We are excited and honoured to be chosen by JD.com to research and develop this ground-breaking technology,” — Andrew Rasheed, founder and CEO of Devery.

Antoine Najjarin, Andrew Rasheed & Sebastian Quinn-Watson (advisor to PowerLedger and Bluzelle) at the JD.com New York Office.

Supply-chain tracking and identity management are fundamental use cases of the blockchain. The participation of a technology behemoth such as JD.com is expected to significantly accelerate the development and adoption of such technology.

The list of projects selected by JD.com are Devery, Bluzelle, CanYa, Nuggets and Bankorus.

Blockchain based systems also have the potential to significantly change how supply-chains are managed and bring greater transparency to the movement of produce and goods all over the world.

The accelerator is expected to help Devery speed up it’s product development and implementation to existing partners but also enable it to develop its suite of products for the larger market. Further, Devery will be working with JD.com to research and develop improved provenance and supply chain tracking technologies.