The goal of APEX Network is through proprietary blockchain technology, foster deeper 1-to-1 B2C relationships, by giving enterprises newer optimized ways to approach marketing, CRM, loyalty, and customer experience, and at the same time maximizing value obtained by the consumer in all B2C interactions. The vision of APEX Network is to build stronger 1-to-1 relationships between the enterprise and consumers through proprietary blockchain technology - transforming how interactions, information, and value is exchanged throughout the B2C engagement process. APEX Network will help facilitate increased trust, privacy, and transparency for B2C interactions. It will also optimize efficiency, cost-effectiveness and help eliminate middlemen networks when necessary. Another key component to APEX Network is connectivity, in terms of both connected information as well as connected value. Information and data, when transacted using fair and transparent protocols, not only can enhance B2C interactions and experience but also can facilitate B2B data-level collaboration and exchange. Similarly, connecting and enabling the exchange of brand-assets, such as tokens and loyalty points, on a frictionless platform provides a turnkey gateway to alliances and commercial partnerships that previously require d manual arrangements. Brands and enterprises will be able to rapidly build and deploy decentralized applications for use cases across the customer lifecycle, including but not limited to marketing, CRM, customer experience optimization, loyalty, and customer insights. Chinapex (Parent company of APEX Network) happens to be in the business of data-driven customer lifecycle and journey management. Chinapex’s data management product, NEXUS has solved many of our 300+ enterprise customers’ problems surrounding integrating data across various touchpoints and data sources into unified profiles.
OriginTrail provides a helpful protocol solution to the problem of maintaining trust among all players involved in bringing a product to market by making the “chain” in “supply chain” more literal. Using blockchain technology, OriginTrail can append immutable data to products as they take each step along the supply route. Thus, each participant not only verifies that their conditions are being met but that at every previous stage, the right conditions were also met by everyone else. This is achieved by making an application layer that allows data to be collected in the real world, and then stored on the blockchain. OriginTrail started out by testing their tracking with organic beef products in 2014, and they are still mostly involved in the tracking of food products in general. It wasn’t until 2016 that they introduced a blockchain into their system. In January 2018, they raised US$22.5 million in their ICO. Since their ICO they’ve successfully launched their testnet, implemented privacy features, and achieved compliance with the GS1 standards that are integral to their business model. Their roadmap is robust and full of details, citing certifications with international bodies, alliances with companies, and entering new markets. Their mainnet is scheduled for launch in Q3 2018, and thereafter they appear to be on track to having all their services fully operational by 2020. OriginTrail is not the first or only company to recognize that supply chains could benefit a great deal from blockchain technology. Ambrosus is also going for the same market, though they seem to be focused on food and pharmaceuticals specifically. It should be noted that most supply chains have their own specific quirks, and so specialization might be be a good option. Another potential competitor of OriginTrail is Waltonchain, a company based in China that puts heavy emphasis on RFID chip scanning as part of their business model. In other words, where OriginTrail wants to leverage existing systems for their infrastructure, Waltonchain wants to try and establish new standards and methods. OriginTrail’s token is called TRAC, and it’s an ERC-20 token, making it storable on any ERC-20 compatible wallet. The total supply is capped at 500 million tokens. The value in TRACE tokens comes from their utility on the OriginTrail network. Tokens are spent to store, retrieve, and send data about supply chains. Since TRACE can be bought and sold in a speculative market, that creates the potential for the price to go up, which would be counter to the needs of people on the network looking for stable prices for setting and getting data. However, prices for data saving and retrieval will be determined by auction, which should counter increasing token value for those using OriginTrail as a service. The Internet of Things is a topic that gets a lot of press, and the general consensus is that it will be standard practice in the future for almost everything in the world to be tracked and traced for a wide variety of purposes. OriginTrail is one company that is demonstrating a concrete plan for exactly how that will be manifest. There really isn’t much to criticize in terms of the overall intention of the project. OriginTrail has identified a weak point in the very important world of supply chain management, that of reliable transfer of information all the way up and down the chain, and aims to provide a workable and clearly understood solution.