Inside the Secret World of Global Food Spies – Bloomberg

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, was one of the first to get on board, just completing a trial using blockchain technology to track pork in China, where it has more than 400 stores. The time taken to track the meat’s supply chain was cut from 26 hours to just seconds using blockchain, and the scope of the project is being widened to other products, said Frank Yiannas, Wal-Mart’s vice president for food safety, in an interview Thursday.

“The problem is the data is only as reliable as the person providing the data,” said Weinberg, who recalls seeing everything in China from synthetic eggs to fake shrimp that still sizzle in a wok. “In most supply chains there is one or more ‘unreliable’ data provider. This means blockchain is likely useless for protecting against food-fraud unless every piece of data is scrutinized to be accurate.”

But blockchain is “light years” away from the system used by the global food industry today, which relies heavily on paper records, said Yiannas, Wal-Mart’s food safety chief. By recording the identity of those who input data into the chain, the technology removes the anonymity that has helped food-fraud to thrive, he said.

The role of humans in recording the supply chain will also diminish, said Yiannas. “More and more of these documents will eventually be captured in an automated way.”

Source: Inside the Secret World of Global Food Spies – Bloomberg

Thanks Frederic

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Tokens Can Be Securities? Even ICO Advisors Agree with the SEC | CoinDesk

Allowing investors to participate in the upside of Blockchain Capital’s venture fund, the key advantage the tokens provide is allowing investors to have liquidity long before more traditional venture capital shares mature. If we assume that tokens are an investment, the question naturally arises: When are token-based investing strategies worth pursuing – both for issuers and for potential investors? Channing’s take on this question, from the perspective of the issuer’s advisor, is instructive. First, Argo

Source: Tokens Can Be Securities? Even ICO Advisors Agree with the SEC – CoinDesk

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The End of the ICO Wild West? Blockchain Advocates Weigh In On SEC Report – Bitcoin News

“It is now clear that some digital currencies will be viewed as securities, depending on how the tokens or coins are structured,” Spencer details. “Secondly, and more importantly, it is now clear that the regulators and law enforcement in the United States will be enforcing these laws. The pipeline for ICO’s just got a lot smaller.”

Source: The End of the ICO Wild West? Blockchain Advocates Weigh In On SEC Report – Bitcoin News

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How Retail Can Thrive in a World Without Stores | HBR

In the last twenty years, the internet has become the front door to every retail store. Now, that entry point is briskly shifting to mobile devices, and even further with voice-activated personal assistants and other connected devices. New technologies are helping innovative brands to ease the transition as consumers forgo the shopping mall in favor of bringing the store experience into their homes. Retailers that don’t find a way to create a happy marriage between the showroom experience you’d expect in a store and the convenience of personal shopping at home will be left behind.

Source: How Retail Can Thrive in a World Without Stores

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Chatbots for customer service will help businesses save $8 billion per year – Watson

A new study released this week estimates that that chatbots will help businesses save more than $8 billion per year by 2022, which is a huge increase from the $20 million estimated for this year. In 2022, the success rate of bot interactions in healthcare sector will increase from the current 12% to over 75%, and in the banking sector this will climb to 90%.

Source: Chatbots for customer service will help businesses save $8 billion per year – Watson

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