Introduction to Waltonchain – A Business Ecosystem Integrating Blockchain and IoT 🚨 This article is 7 years old...
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Introduction to Waltonchain – A Business Ecosystem Integrating Blockchain and IoT
5 min read
Updated: Sep. 9, 2018 at 7:10 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
With the advent of the blockchain, the world slowly realizes the full potential of the IoT—Internet of Things—business model and how it can help revolutionize the way in which commercial transactions are carried out online.
Simply put, IoT technology can help connect any device to the internet through the use of an intermediary interface such as an RFID chip. It mainly serves as an on/off portal that can wirelessly link anything ranging from a cell phone or a washing machine, to another device in a completely hands-free manner.
Waltonchain is a blockchain platform that is designed to help amalgamate RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology with retail supply chains to create an ecosystem wherein each component of the chain can be monitored and tracked quickly and efficiently.
The ecosystem is governed by a native currency called WTC, which has gained a modest 3% in the past week.
The project is named after Charlie Walton, who was a pioneer in the field of remote tracking and was also the inventor of RFID tags. Since the 1960’s these tags have been used all across the globe within diverse areas such as medicine, geo-positioning, retail.
In this article, we will analyze the core services being offered by Waltonchain as well as take a look at its finer aspects to determine whether this platform is scalable, and can be used by businesses for real-time applications and operations.
What is Waltonchain?
Waltonchain is a blockchain project whose origins can be traced back to December 2016. The primary aim of this platform is to bring together the technological capabilities of RFID and blockchain and create a system that can monitor supply chains.
To be more specific, we can see that it decentralizes the entire supply chain, and is thus able to keep close tabs on a products’ history, as well as store this information on its internal network.
Two of the core components of Waltonchain is the RFID reader chips and RFID reader tags. The tags can be thought of as radio frequency devices that serve as physical carriers of information such as the electronic product code (EPC). This code can be attached to traceable items such as medicines, electronic goods, clothing and then circulated all across the globe.
The reader chip or the UHF recognizer is then used to harness the coded data from the tags. Technically speaking, the reader not only extracts vital supply chain info but also amplifies the incoming signals via the use of technologies such as LNA and ADC.
At this point it should also be noted that there are two distinct RFID tags that are commonly used by the retail industry today, they include:
- Passive tags: these data carriers are more expensive to produce and are able to receive electromagnetic energy from the reader itself, thereby eliminating the need for a battery.
- Active Tags: these tags come with a power supply unit which allows them to emit radio waves independently. In the past couple of years, a lot of research has gone into this technology so as to create cheap carriers that can be thrown away after a certain period of time.
How Waltonchain Works
While the RFID readers are viewed as nodes within the ecosystem, the tags are connected to products which are circulated within the supply chain. All of the data, such as dispatch details as well as delivery info is recorded on the Waltonchain blockchain via the RFID system.
Small data sets pertaining to an items geo-position, weight are stored in something called “child chains” which over time are accumulated and allowed to merge with the “master chain.” This allows for a significant increase in the overall speed of data distribution as well encryption levels.
Another key facet of the platform is the Walton Genesis Block— which serves as a core service module that enables a host of functions ranging from WTC token management, internal monetary regulation, sub chain management, smart contract execution, etc.
The Benefits
Since Waltonchain can track and verify the movement of products within an expansive global network, it can significantly reduce monetary expenses related to product production, storage, auditing, shipping. Not only that, it also gives consumers the power to keep a close watch on the movement of their purchased items.
Additionally, the tags have been designed to generate randomized public and private keys to provide a high degree of safety for IoT applications and ensure that problems related to forgery or tampering are not incurred.
Lastly, since native WTC tokens are used to execute all internal transactions, only those purchases that have successfully met all of the pre-existing smart contracts criteria are written on to the blockchain. This helps drastically reduce problems related to spamming, network bloating and high overhead fees.
About the Company
The principal team behind this project consists of individuals who hail from diverse fields ranging from finance to digital innovation, to the television industry.
Xu Fangcheng (shown in the video below) is one of the founders of this project. He has been in the retail domain for over two decades and has previously worked at Septwolves Group as their Supply Chain Director.
In addition to heading Waltonchain, Xu is also currently associated with companies such as Shenzhen Silicon and Xiamen Silicon in a managerial capacity.
Similarly, Do Sang Hyuk is the co-Founder of this venture. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the China-Korea Cultural Exchange Development Committee and has previously worked in the Korean media industry as a TV host and executive. Do is also the Director of the Korean Standards Association.
Where is WTC trading?
WTC is presently being traded on Binance, CoiNest, KuCoin, OKEx, and CoinRail. As per the official whitepaper, there are a total of 100,000,000 WTC coins that have been created. Out of this number, only 25,000,000 tokens are presently in circulation.
Since the founders of this project have focused their attention primarily on the Asia-Pacific region, this currency has gained a lot of traction within the South Korean cryptocurrency market.
Final thoughts
With Waltonchain promising to provide the retail market with a disruptive technology that can help eliminate fraudulent and scammy practices that are rampant today, it can potentially revolutionize the way in which high-value assets such as medicine, digital devices are bought and sold all across the globe.
With IoT being touted as the future of the retail industry, it would not be surprising to see WTC on various top crypto lists of 2018.
For more information about Waltonchain including price, market cap, technical information and social media links, please see our Waltonchain coin profile.
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