JD.com, the largest e-commerce provider and retail chain in China has announced the launch of an open blockchain platform. The company says the move allow customers to install their own blockchain solutions hence improving transparency, security and efficiency.
Expanding retail service
The new platform will expand JD.com’s service offering and enable its customers to set up smart contracts on both public and private enterprise clouds. The company will use the new platform in tracking the movement of products, monitoring digital copyrights, property assessments and authenticity certifications. The company ensures only high quality products are listed on its platform hence allowing customers to customize applications.
Expanding product portfolio
The application has an in-built application store which offers software and several blockchain templates. The templates are designed and developed by JD.com’s internal development team plus other independent software developers. According the retail giant, the new platform will especially be important that have been finding it difficult to develop and launch their own blockchain solutions.
Improving efficiency
Since its launch, China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC) became the first JD.com partner to sign up to the new blockchain platform. The insuarance company uses a unique blockchain ID on every invoice document. This helps to streamline service delivery. It is fast and adds efficiency in the accounting process. This way, the company has a firm hand on the security aspect of electronic invoices. CPIC vice president and chief financial officer Yanhong Pan indeed confirms that the new e-invoice system helps to improve efficiency.
Jian Pei, who is in charge of smart supply chain and big data at J.D.com said the new blockchain platform was first, developed to serve the company’s own internal operations. The system was to help the company improve the visibility of its customers.
At the start of this year, the retail company unveiled AI Catapult, which served as both an AI accelerator and blockchain platform. The company has also developed AI applications in China and a Silicon Valley lab. Since its launch, AI Catapult has attracted several subscriptions from big companies. Some of the subscribers include Bankorous, a Chinese fintech company, CanYa, a cryptocurrency company from Australia and Bluezelle, a blockchain company from Singapore.
