Five retailers/brands that are all about the blockchain right now

Alibaba Group

The People’s Bank of China is set to give its first round of central bank digital currency (CBDC) to Alibaba Group and seven others, including internet giant Tencent.

According to a report by Forbes, the other beneficiaries will be China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, Chinese banking association Union Pay and an unnamed organisation.

An anonymous source claimed that the technology was ready to ship, and that the ‘DC/EP’ (Digital Currency/Electronic Payments), as it has been dubbed, could roll-out as early as 11th November, China’s busiest shopping day, aka Singles Day. 

The recipient institutions will then be responsible for dispersing the cryptocurrency to 1.3 billion Chinese citizens and others doing business in the renminbi, China’s fiat currency, according to the source. They added that the central bank hopes the currency will eventually be made available to consumers in the US and elsewhere through relationships with correspondent banks in the west.

Manchester City

Manchester City has partnered with South Korean football gaming startup Superbloke.

As a result, it will become Man City’s official blockchain-based Gacha partner in Korea, Japan and South East Asia. Superbloke will also incorporate the Premier League club’s players into its blockchain-powered FC Superstar online game. This lets users build a team by collecting, training and growing specially designed Man City digital player cards using real-life match stats and in-game training.

Damian Willoughby, Senior VP of Partnerships at City Football Group, comments: “This new partnership marks another exciting milestone in City’s growing relationship with gaming and will create unique experiences for fans to engage with the club through digital platforms. We look forward to welcoming Superbloke to the Manchester City family and growing our knowledge of this developing industry through this partnership.”

Petco

Bitcoin rewards app Lolli has teamed up with US pet retailer Petco.

There are two types of rewards that come with the partnership. One is that Lolli users can earn up to 3.5% satoshis (sats) of their purchases at Petco.com. They can also earn a flat 5,000 sats payment for sharing a photo of their dog and commenting on the tie up.

“We are thrilled to partner with Petco and give our users the opportunity to earn Bitcoin for taking care of their furry friends. Pet food, toys, and treats are recurring costs, and now our users can look forward to Bitcoin rewards for looking after their pets, especially doggies,” says Matt Senter CTO and Co-founder, Lolli. 

Farmarket

Farmarket, a pharmacy chain in Venezuela, is now accepting Dash cryptocurrency payments.

An XpayCash PoS system has been deployed within the first pilot stores. This is operated by Panda Exchange and enables instant transactions, thanks to Dash’s InstantSend technology. During the first two months of operation, members of the local Dash team will be on hand to support staff and customers in understanding how the technology works and to answer general questions about Dash and X-PayCash.

Roll-out to the entire chain of 22 stores is expected to be complete by the end of 2019. “Innovation supports our core values of serving clients, growth and system development, so being able to offer Dash through XpayCash will allow us to offer the most updated payments technology on the market,” says Cinthya Sagues, General Manager at Farmarket.

”Having the support from the Dash teams directly in the stores will allow us to bring the Dash experience we have seen in many parts of the country into our stores, and we are confident this will translate to a short learning curve and an improved service level to our customers.”

“Enabling Dash payments at Farmarket is a massive step in growing our ecosystem of retailers. Dash users can now pay for essential products and medicines at a well-known and trusted pharmacy brand,” comments Ryan Taylor, CEO, Dash Core Group.

“We expect our partnership with Panda in Colombia and Farmarket in Venezuela to be a substantial move toward a purchase driven economy, where not only Venezuelans in Caracas will be able to pay directly in stores with Dash, but also their relatives in Colombia and elsewhere will be able to buy medicine from abroad and resolve health issues for their relatives and loved ones.”

Migros

Switzerland’s largest retailer, Migros, is tapping TE-Food’s blockchain-based traceability system for a project involving its fresh fruit and vegetable supply chains.

According to a press release: “Although a growing number of food companies are launching traceability projects, many of them focus only on the marketing advantages by providing transparent food information to their consumers. However, food traceability can provide more value from easier product recalls to improved supply chain control.”

“Migros wants to achieve deeper supply chain insight to optimise its processes. Supply chain optimisation can lead to quicker distribution and reduced food waste, which is also part of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) initiatives for the next years,” it adds.

Fresh food suppliers previously communicated traceability data from their legacy systems (ERP, farm management) to Migros via a GS1 standards-based API (EPCIS). This has now been extended to a B2B mobile app, a web app and file uploads, thanks to TE-Food.

The system is for internal use and there are currently no plans to open it up to consumers.