Sunny Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of VeChain went on a live interview with Boxmining on 20th July 2020 to talk about what’s happening with VeChain recently and their grand objectives. It was also a great opportunity for Lu to directly speak to and answer questions from the community. Here are some key takeaways from this interview.
VeChain is a smart contract platform mainly focused on enterprise adoption. The platform allows for the creation of decentralised applications to solve problems such as anti-counterfeiting, cold-chain logistics and maintaining tamper-proof records.
Watch the full interview here:
What is VeChain?
Lu said that VeChain is a “next-generation” smart contract platform devoted to providing blockchain solutions to different enterprises.
In terms of adoption, VeChain is at the top of all the blockchain developments in the field, having been adopted by prominent clients such as BMW, Givenchy, and Walmart. Lu also said that the project has done a lot globally and they are very proud of their achievements.
Blockchain can create a trust-free world
He said that the innovation brought about by blockchain technology enables us to create trustless machines. With its decentralized structure and immutability, it can establish a unique trust features that may or may not be available in centralized systems.
Blockchain creates a trust-free world because it does not rely on flawed humans in operating the whole system. Furthermore, you do not have to worry about people deciding to play “something dirty or evil” with blockchain.
Lu also stated that if we “aim for the better world, blockchain has to be there.”
Post COVID-19 developments need blockchain
He said that “digitization is the new black.” True enough, a lot of people are now starting to be aware of its use cases.
When COVID-19 shook the world, many enterprises had to digitize their business, or put them up online, in order to continue to remain afloat. According to him, that meant “relying on the digital version of the world”. If that is to be the case, he said that “blockchain is the first fundamental infrastructure technology you got to do.”
Furthermore, a blockchain allows a business operation that is completely secure and transparent from end-to-end. With it, every data relevant to each transaction can be safely stored and accessed by anyone since it is a distributed database.
Continuous improvements on the blockchain infrastructure
Lu also shared that to maintain VeChain’s growth, they are continuously increasing the capacity and capability of their platform. This is what they have devoted themselves to doing for the past three to four years.
Before, the procedure required for an enterprise to establish an e-commerce platform was extremely difficult. That was the case if we look back 25 or 30 years ago. But with blockchain technology, we don’t have to work everything out from scratch anymore.
Blockchain has enabled us to easily build an e-commerce platform with all the new tools that can help enterprises innovate their Proof of Concept (PoC), production, and skill amplification. Other parts of the supply chain could also heavily benefit from blockchain technology.
Adoption is increasing at a massive scale
He said that a lot of people are now starting to use the blockchain as an essential part of transitioning to e-commerce. Just a year and a half ago, VeChain underwent numerous upgrades.
They now have new fundamental modules that seek to provide specific solutions to enterprises. The first module provides a standard template for different kinds of businesses based on the industries that have used VeChain successfully.
For example, you can imagine establishing a supermarket chain. With VeChain, the standard template would be to refer to Walmart China (Learn about what VeChain is doing for Walmart China) you can easily refer to China’s Walmart case. Or in the case of a pharmaceutical company looking into conducting clinical trials for new drugs, they can refer to Bayer China (Learn about VeChain’s partnership with Bayer China).
This saves a lot of time for the user because they can start production in just a few weeks after setting it up.
He said that looking back, it had been too time-consuming to establish a business on a blockchain platform. A project that he observed in the United States was developing a food safety platform on the blockchain. It took them 14 months, however, to set up on-chain for just a 12-month period PoC.
VeChain helped make the process a whole lot easier. He also shared their experience in Walmart China, which only took them three months to finish everything.
“If you are starting to use a template, it would be easier. You would just need a couple of days or a week maximum to create something. No need to wait nine months or more just to create a PoC,” he said.
A second module accessible to them provides templates to different companies based on which practice that might fit their model. They can build on these templates, and transfer their infrastructure model to the blockchain within just a few weeks.
The third module that they use allows the user to gather and understand data on the blockchain. It provides the user with the tools to reveal the value of the data that they have stored. In the case of Walmart China, for example, Lu explained that consumers can still easily trace the movement of their purchases with the data accessible in its public blockchain.
Blockchain needs more business people to flourish
He said that while blockchain is mainly a technological innovation, the entire blockchain space needs more business experts to complement its technological value with business value. That way, people can maximize the benefits of the blockchain while maintaining sustainability.
This benefit is shared by every enterprise in the VeChain platform, even the small and medium-sized enterprises.
What’s next for VeChain and $VET?
Six months after they first launched the VeChain mainnet in 2018, the total number of transactions was almost half a million. But in 2019, this number shot up to 36 million. And in 2020, they were already processing a hundred thousand transactions per day.
The growth rate is increasing consistently. But when asked about his plans on listing VeChain’s token $VET on other crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, he said that he has no comments yet.
