KUALA LUMPUR: XOX Bhd aims to tap the Blockchain solutions market in Asia Pacific, which is growing at a robust pace.
Blockchain solutions spending in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) is expected to grow significantly over the 2018-2022 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77.5 per cent and total spending of US$2.4 billion by 2022, according to an update of the IDC Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide.
XOX announced yesterday that it planned to develop customised solutions on its TraX platform for the pharmaceutical sector, following the roll out of the platform for the food industry.
TraX is a web and mobile application platform developed by XOX and powered by AntChain's Traceability-as-a-Service (TaaS).
It is blockchain-based traceability solution combined with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to enable trust, increase efficiency and provide end-to-end transparency on information along the supply chain, said its chief executive officer Ng Kok Heng.
AntChain is a blockchain business of Alibaba's payment arm Ant Group.
Blockchain refers to a tamper-proof, distributed digital ledger that records all types of transactions.
Ng said TraX was able to provide scalable and cost-efficient solutions for the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector to achieve greater product traceability and information transparency on a supply chain, thus prevent fraud and protect product authentication.
He said the company was in talks with potential partners in the industry keen to adopt TraX.
Oversea Enterprise Bhd )OEB), a Chinese restaurant chain, is one of the first SMEs in Southeast Asia to adopt TraX powered by AntChain to further enhance food traceability and safety.
OEB operates in three segments - restaurant, where it owns and operates five Chinese outlets under the name Oversea; manufacturing of baked products like mooncakes; and investment holding.
The group is the largest mooncake manufacturer in Malaysia, producing more than one million pieces annually.
Technology improvement is key to elevate their business to the next level, to further improve and innovate.
According to 2019 data from Juniper Research, blockchain will facilitate USD31 billion in "food fraud savings" by the year 2024,
The research showed that blockchain, along with 'internet of things' trackers and sensors, would help to drive down costs for retailers.
Juniper Research said that the IoT and blockchain would add "significant value" to those involved in the supply chain namely farmers, retailers and consumers.
The head of international business at AntChain Kenny Tan said the firm had pioneered over 50 blockchain commercial applications and use cases since its inception in 2016.
"Together with local partners such as XOX, we look forward to bringing these blockchain innovations to Southeast Asia to accelerate the digital transformation of SMEs in a data-driven world," he said.
XOX and AntChain also plan to introduce Creator ID, built on AntChain Digital Asset solution to enable digitisation of real assets such as copyright and cultural art on blockchain.