It’s July 2019 and we might, just might be out of crypto winter. Bitcoin (BTC) has had a massive recovery from its lows 8 months ago, a significant correction and is holding steady at the $9,000-$10,000 range. While bitcoin is needs to almost double in price to reach its all-time high, the same cannot be said for the altcoins (barring a few exceptions). Overall, altcoins are yet to make any significant movement, which begs the question – when alt season? Will it even happen? Many are hopeful. Crypto twitter is abuzz!
If you’ve been following crypto since the bull run, you’d surely have noticed Waltonchain (WTC). There was a lot of hype around it and the price ran up all the way to $45 during its peak and dropped to its lowest point of $0.90. At the time of writing, WTC current price stands at $1.88, ranked at 78 on the CoinMarketCap list and is -95% away from the all time high, showing a lot of price movement between $1.8-$3 USD in the past month (more on that later).
Waltonchain, like many other blockchain projects launched their ICO in July 2017, two years ago. During the bear market, most ICOs launched have either completely closed down or have stagnated – with little or no project development going on. What differentiates Waltonchain from the others is that even during crypto winter, the team had their head down and were focussed on delivering a functional product in the market. The team has its headquarters in Shenzhen, China and most of their team members are from China and South Korea.
What exactly do they do?
Waltonchain creates value by seamlessly integrating software and hardware which not only provides value but solves one of the inherent problems which others don’t seem too keen on looking at. The software being the blockchain and the hardware aspect being RFID tags and smart RFID reader-writers which we’ll get to. This sets them apart from others in the market because existing blockchain applications only adopt software solutions and hardware integration. This means they cannot guarantee authenticity and reliability of the data sources. What sets Waltonchain apart is they have developed and are manufacturing their own RFID chip and other related hardware. This is instrumental in them having a significant advantage over others as the implementation of a blockchain hardware system ensures that the data is authentic and reliable from the source. By focusing on data reliability and data value circulation, it not only simplifies costs for enterprises but also helps them analyse and understand big data to make better business decisions.
Real world application
For example, when used in the retail sector (one of the many industries that Waltonchain is targeting), the system facilitates data circulation right from production, logistics, warehousing, sales and other customisable information. Since all this data is provided via the blockchain, the information is 100% authentic and trustworthy.
Having a functional product, the team is already exploring the retail clothing sector and is partnering with multiple companies to take this forward.
How does it work?
Tags already exist on all clothing which show price, size, other information along with a QR code. Within the tag itself, there is an RFID chip (developed and manufactured by Waltonchain) which is equipped with an antenna to transmit data. The RFID chip itself will cost as little as 5 cents and as demand increases, the cost will reduce further due to economies of scale. Every piece of clothing will have an RFID tag with a unique number which will be tracked.
Waltonchain has also designed and developed custom readers and scanners to input this information on the blockchain. These devices are kept on the clothing racks and also in the changing rooms which tracks data such as “grab rates” and also how many times people have tried on certain pieces of clothing – all on the blockchain. This information can be used for future big data analysis which would be extremely helpful for clothing designers and manufacturers to understand which products are being looked at more than others, allowing them to understand demand, design preferences and improve future designs. Scanners will also be put at entry/exit points in order to tackle theft.
Currently, this service is offered only by Waltonchain and does not currently exist in the market. The only alternative is surveys which do not help much in comparison to the factual data gathered without bothering the customer.
From a manufacturing perspective, they can also track the supply chain management and logistics of their products and know with 100% certainty where products are on an individual level and which stores their products have been shipped to globally. With RFID technology, multiple items can be scanned at once allowing for quick stock management as well. It is important to point out that Waltonchain has developed this technology on their own and are combining it with the blockchain to offer extremely useful big data analysis. Privacy features are also in place, allowing companies that use this service to protect their data on the blockchain.
In a recent interview with CEO Mo Bing, he mentioned that Waltonchain has the potential to be a top 10 crypto in the future. In the same article, he also talks about how Waltonchain can cut the counterfeiting cost of big companies by a big margin through their service offering. Given the progress they have made in the software and hardware side of things, we definitely have something exciting to look forward to.
If you liked the article, please upvote and share it.
Also, do follow the official channels for authentic information:
Website - https://www.waltonchain.org/en/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Waltonchain
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1snmpcyJhW-XHDZo8tGbA
Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/waltonchain
Telegram Announcements English - https://t.me/waltonchain_announcements