Supply chains

OriginTrail allows for a scalable, trusted and secure way to share information between all network participants – it is the knowledge graph of all knowledge graphs. The DKG serves as the central repository of all data, acting as the bridge between traditional web companies and the Semantic Web. It acts as the foundation for connecting data in Web3 and AI applications, empowering individuals to take control of their own information.

Read Decentralized Knowledge Graph for more information.

In the context of supply chains, the DKG is a neutral, open source, GS1 and W3C compliant protocol enabling secure peer-to-peer data sharing between companies and supply chains. It utilizes decentralized nodes and an off-chain technology stack to interface with legacy systems as well as other blockchains (permissioned and permissionless). OriginTrail allows businesses to improve interoperability among different IT systems by removing data silos, ensuring data integrity, immutability and traceability by fingerprinting a cryptographic data hash of the data to a blockchain and facilitating trusted data exchange.

As consumers, we often have limited knowledge about the origin and journey of the items we use in our daily lives - be it the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the devices we use, or the products we apply on our skin. We often have questions such as where it was made, how it was made, and how it was transported, but few answers. This lack of information raises concerns about the trustworthiness of the company and the authenticity of the product. This scarcity of data is a result of the limited ability of supply chains to share information and the inability of manufacturers to collect data throughout the supply chain. However, providing a transparent origin story and authenticity proof to consumers can increase the value of a product, and governments are also interested in ensuring high standards for food safety, certification, and transportation.

Supply chain data is becoming increasingly fragmented and there is no suitable decentralized solution for supply chain with the needed level of performance, scalability, trust and cost-effectiveness.

OriginTrail protocol was designed purposefully to make supply chains transparent, collaborative, fair and more resilient by using well established industry standards from GS1 (Barcode inventor), allowing all supply chain stakeholders to securely share their data while keeping sensitive data fully encrypted, ensuring compatibility among all legacy systems and remaining fully neutral to decentralize trust in supply chains.

One of OriginTrail's primary use cases is to improve trust and transparency in global supply chain management. The existing supply chain system is hampered by the "one step down, one step up" traceability principle, which limits the ability of supply chain participants to verify each step. OriginTrail is an innovative protocol that enables multiple parties involved in complex supply chains to establish blockchain-based data sharing in a multi-organizational setting. By verifying that participants adhere to specific conditions at each stage of the supply chain, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers can benefit from a secure and immutable ledger of real-world data. This improved integrity and traceability of supply chain data leads to increased efficiency and cost savings, turning a supply chain expense into a revenue generator.

All supply chain data on a immutable ledger tells the story of the life cycle of a product. The history of each step including manufacturing, distribution and transportation becomes completely transparent to the end user.

OriginTrail has been built to take advantage of globally recognized GS1 and W3C standards. This allows for efficient alignment of data from multiple sources, including both legacy systems and newer blockchain-powered systems. This data could be anything: tracking and tracing data, Internet-of-Things (IoT) data, descriptive attributes, etc. Once data is aligned, consensus checks to verify datasets from different stakeholders can take place; additionally, auditing via compliance organizations can be authorized automatically. Due to the sensitive nature of many supply chain and business use cases, the ODN is designed to provide a Zero-Knowledge proof method to prove data validity.

With that in mind, the OriginTrail Decentralized Network overcomes a significant barrier to centralized blockchain solutions: keeping trust between all parties on the network.

Data Privacy

Our personal information is at risk of being misused when popular apps are used on a daily basis. When we opt for "free" services like Google, Twitter, TikTok, or Facebook, we may not be fully aware of the trade-off we're making. By sharing photos and details about our interests, we are contributing to the platform's database, which is then used to deliver personalized ads. This practice raises questions about privacy and data security, as our personal data is being exploited for commercial purposes without our full understanding or agreement. It's important for users to understand how their data is being used and take steps to protect it.

Personal data collection, tracking and sales by tech companies are becoming increasingly prevalent at the expense of privacy, ownership and freedom.

OriginTrail evolved from being a supply chain only protocol pre-2019 to becoming the world’s first Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG). Not only can OriginTrail help streamline supply chains through an open source protocol with the core values of neutrality, inclusiveness and usability, it can now allow valuable data to be exchanged in a permissionless, trusted and secure manner, while all parties retain sovereignty over ownership of their data.