Before entering the world of blockchain, Anndy Lian has already made his name as a successful businessman. He manages a few trading companies in Singapore, and he has also spent 8 years doing business in South Korea and traded more than 30, 000 different kinds of products, accumulating diverse experiences in the supply chain industry.
So, you can count on him to intimately know all the pain points in the supply chain, given that he has experienced a wide range of these problems first hand. Hence, when blockchain technology started to gain traction, he came up with the idea of “blockchain + supply chain”.
What blockchain can do for common pain points in the supply chain
Traditional supply chains are highly obscure and unsafe, which is why Lian thought of moving it onto the blockchain.
He said, “I discovered that every stage of the supply chain has its own set of problems. Companies could have made more profit instead of unnecessarily losing money in the supply chain.
“The supply chain has way too many stages, and it is very opaque. Problems such as products being stolen can occur easily. The root cause of it all is trust.”
Lian’s experience with counterfeit medications also played a role in driving him towards blockchain. Lian has extensive investments in the healthcare industry, which brought the issue of counterfeit medications to his attention.
He concluded, “In order to truly distinguish whether a certain medication is real or fake, you need to be tracing it from the very start. Blockchain can be very helpful in this as it forms the basis of a reliable system, to record every detail of the medication’s production from start to end, assisted by the use of tokens.
“Product users only need to scan a QR code, and they can know whether the medication is real and its expiry date.”
After participating in multiple talks with pharmaceutical companies and academics, Lian prioritised the tracking of drug production in his “blockchain + supply chain” plan. He began his adventures in the world of blockchain last year by starting the company.
Covering consumer products’ entire journeys
Linfinity aims to address common pain areas in the supply chain industry with blockchain, such as the dire lack of efficiency, transparency, traceability, and accountability. It aims to build the world’s first supply chain platform based on blockchain, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), and Big Data analytics.
Lian set three goals for Linfinity. The first of them is technological services. It combines the supply chain with blockchain, IoT, and artificial intelligence.
“Such a combination is pretty rare in blockchain,” Lian said. In Linfinity’s main hub in Singapore, he has not found similar products yet.
The second is high level traceability. Most blockchain tracing goes no further than product circulation. But Linfinity aims to trace the entire supply chain: from raw materials to storage, and product circulation. This maximises blockchain’s effectiveness in tracing products and preventing counterfeits. Linfinity’s clients are able to use the LFT token to track each product’s journey.
The third is being environmentally friendly. In many projects working on traceability, the tracing process ends when the product lands in the consumer’s hands. Linfinity wants to go one step further and use blockchain to track the product’s usage and recycling.
Lian said, “If a medication’s manufacturing date and expiry date are all put onto the blockchain, we can further develop hardware for brands and suppliers to know where their products have gone, when they have been eaten and thrown away, and how to recycle them. Such data is extremely valuable, so we are working on this technology.”
As of now, Linfinity’s work is maturing in the medication, cosmetics, and tobacco industries. Each product has its own unique QR code, which reveals everything about it that has been recorded on the blockchain. This provides a great boost to anti-counterfeiting efforts.
Linfinity has strategic partnerships with eight companies, and is currently signing a partnership with Taiwan’s Alishan cigarettes. Linfinity is going to use blockchain to reduce counterfeits for Alishan, protecting their brand value and consumers’ legal rights.
This coming August, Linfinity is looking to expand its operations to more places, such as the United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan.
Bringing the combination of blockchain with IoT to fruition
At the moment, there are many companies who are working to integrate blockchain with IoT. Their credibility has taken a hit. Many feel that bringing IoT into blockchain sounds superficial, and does not inspire confidence. However, Lian is firmly set on his path in realising his “blockchain + supply chain” dream.
He said, “I have never doubted the value of IoT with blockchain. A lot of companies, big and small, have yet to fully understand how to use IoT to enhance their operations. Perhaps they can’t bring their visions to reality due to narrow mindsets, or insufficient funds, which is the reason why people think that they are sketchy.
“But we must face the fact that big companies like Amazon are already crazy about IoT and have developed many applications, with real results.
“What Linfinity is doing now is pioneering technologies in IoT. Within a year, more applications will be officially released.”
The token as an ecosystem building block rather than a money-making tool
Linfinity uses the token LFT as a reward mechanism and a medium of value-creation.
The LFT serves a very important purpose in Linfinity’s ecosystem of a public chain, alliance chains, and private chains. Most cryptocurrencies available on the market are separate entities from their projects. Instead, tokens are mostly used as a fund-raising mechanism.
The LFT distinguishes itself as it is designed to be closely intertwined with Linfinity’s business model, creating a robust ecosystem.
Linfinity has been distributing the LFT generously to suppliers around the world. Lian is confident about the token’s value. He said, “Because we interact with companies in the supply chain directly, only the increase in the token’s value will motivate them to use the system proactively.”
As of now, Linfinity’s team, consisting of around 50 members, are spread out around the globe to target the markets of different areas and countries. They are developing increasing amounts of applications, in various industries such as food, medication, tobacco, and coffee.
Once Linfinity completes its testing phase and moves on to commercial mass adoption, it can potentially break the normal framework of cryptocurrencies successfully.
That is truly an exciting prospect, as LFT, an utility token, will truly be imbued with real uses. It is going to be a game changer, as it represents a leap from a zero sum game to an ecosystem of growth.
Media Contact
Company Name: Linfinity Pte Ltd
Contact Person: AC
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Country: Malaysia
Website: http://www.linfinity.io/
