How Effective Are the Tracking Capabilities of a Blockchain-Based System?

As the crypto industry expands, the driving technology that governs it permeates more and more businesses. These businesses are looking to take advantage of blockchain’s benefits, particularly its ability to provide a transparent tracking system.

For some industries, the monitoring of their products is of paramount importance since counterfeiting issues are taking away chunks of their profit. The pharmaceutical industry, for instance, is struggling to contain such problems, with the developing countries having the most difficulty.

For example, it is estimated that 70 percent of drugs that are sold in Africa are likely to be counterfeits of the real products, according to Coincentral. Blockchain can help deal with this since a tracking platform run by this innovation can effectively trace a product’s origin and how it travels through the supply chain, all the way down to the place where it's eventually purchased by the consumers.

The tracking mechanism that blockchain offers is so effective that even governments are using it keep track of supplies. The Malaysian government is among the countries that utilize blockchain to monitor the provenance of halal (permissible) products to ensure that the consumers are eating food that is in line with their beliefs.

Along with blockchain, the system also utilizes radio frequency identification to mark shipments and keep track of their journey throughout the supplying process. If any irregularities occur, such as a batch of milk spoiling, authorities can quickly identify where exactly the issue happened.

The diamond industry is also leveraging blockchain for its tracking capabilities to ensure consumers that their products didn’t come from war-torn regions. De Beers, the world’s largest diamond product producer, has already made progress using a blockchain-based tracking system and has successfully tracked pieces of diamond’s provenance, where they were cut and polished, and where they were sold.

Tracking is but one of the many benefits that blockchain offer. The medical industry is trying to use it to store sensitive information, smart cities are employing it to create energy-efficient neighborhoods, and the music industry is utilizing it to eliminate scalping problems.