What is VeChain? (VEN)

The cryptocurrency market is one with no shortage of upcoming projects with the blockchain concept being applied to so many traditional industries all looking to become alternative solutions for centralised systems like SAP and Sage.

The problem is that with so many projects up and running it's hard to keep tabs on everything and it's easy to miss out on promising cryptos. VeChain is one of those projects which seemingly emerged out of nowhere and has risen as high as the 25th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. No one will deny that any blockchain-based project is of great interest to the world, although there are some questions as to what sets VeChain apart exactly.

What is Vechain (Ven)?

Leveraging the open, decentralized architecture of the blockchain, the VeChain platform is evolving into a reliable, scalable, and distributed business environment which runs without any central authority.

By providing an all round-view of a product and its linked business operations, like supply chain management, VeChain aims to help businesses and customers with enhanced transparency. VeChain will also allow for the development of 3rd party tools on the Thor network which allows for the creation of dApps.

An introduction to Vechain

Why should you pay attention to Vechain?

Asset Digitization

VeChain plans to create a secure supply chain management ecosystem via the method of asset digitization. VeChain enables manufacturers to assign products with unique identities and then assign them to the platform. This will allow manufacturers, supply chain partners, and even consumers, to track the movement of products through their supply chain. VeChain makes use of its VeChain Identity (VID) technology, to mark and track a product. VIDs are produced using a SHA256 hash function, which generates a random hash value that corresponds to a VID.

That VID can then be written into a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, Quick Response (QR) code, or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, to be used for each product. This method allows for the tagged product and all corresponding information, such as the supply chain activities of the product, to be translated from the real business world into the platform.

For example, the platform and its accompanying technologies can be utilized in the winery industry. A bottle of wine can be fitted with a VID, that allows both the wine manufacturer and the consumer to track the movement of the wine from the point of manufacture, all the way to the end consumer. Any attempts to defraud the consumer will be detected, as the authenticity of the wine can be determined at each stage of the supply chain process. As well as allowing for the asset digitization of products, VeChain also supports authorization based digital ownership management.

This means that ownership of products can be represented digitally on the platform. This is done through the use of smart contract technology, which allows a digital asset to be linked to an account that possesses both a public key and private key. The public key is made public and is shown as an alias email address, which can be recognized and accessed by other users. The private key gives a user authorization and access to the corresponding digital asset.

Nodes and Tokens

Security is maintained on the platform by the use of network nodes. These network nodes can be controlled by businesses and organizations that are directly participating in the ecosystem. Network nodes may provide services such as quality inspection, wallet services, and may even act as a private key management service provider.

The platform will also make use of its own native token asset known as the VeChain tokens (VEN). These tokens will be used as GAS that is needed for smart contract execution. As well as this, VENs will also be used as an incentive mechanism, in that they will be awarded to network nodes that help facilitate the ecosystem via their operation.

VeChain Foundation

The VeChain Foundation is responsible for the construction of the network, as well as technological research and development. The Foundation also plays an important role in business development and encourages partnerships with enterprises that may be interested in utilizing blockchain technology as a service. This includes payment services, private key management, smart contract development, and wallet development.

What is VeChain used for?

Asset tracking and management

VeChain follows the method of asset digitization to help address such problems. VeChain allows manufacturers to assign products with unique identities, like RFIDs and sensors, which are capable of recording and broadcasting information at every stage. This information gets logged on to the public VeChain blockchain and allows all stakeholders - the manufacturers, the various supply chain partners, and the end consumers – details about the product and its handling.

One-Third of Cryptocurrencies Are Unspendable

Leveraging the open, decentralized architecture of the blockchain, the VeChain platform is evolving into a reliable, scalable, and distributed business environment which runs without any central authority and allows access to all necessary information about a product to authorized stakeholders.

By providing an all round-view of a product and the linked business operations, like supply chain management, VeChain aims to help businesses and customers with enhanced transparency. This article describes the VeChain network, its working, and applications.

VeChain dApps

While the above example demonstrates an efficient use of VeChain in quality control across supply chain management, it is capable of doing a lot more. Just as the Ethereum platform supports the working of a variety of decentralized Apps (dApps), VeChain can help streamline a lot of business activities across a variety of sectors using its blockchain-powered cloud services in combination with the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. (See also, An Introduction to Ethereum Classic.)

VeChain has partnered with a European luxury brand that embeds customized NFC chips into its leather products, enabling authentic product verification by the customer. In the auto industry, a car’s details can be uploaded by the manufacturer onto the blockchain, after which all data points about car servicing, spare parts replacement and their authenticity, accident/theft records, and even insurance details can be placed on the blockchain.

This information is vital to various parties - including insurance companies, service partners, authorities, and even car-resellers - to ensure fair valuation and track maintenance records for the car. VeChain can be useful in the agriculture sector by enabling accurate and real-time data gathering and surveillance of farm environment that helps in superior farm output. Such monitoring is possible through the IoT devices that are being developed in-house by VeChain, and work in sync with the VeChain platform.

Can you mine Vechain?

No Vechain cannot be mined, VeChain is not a coin at this point in time but a token. The Ven/Vet is an ERC20 Token at the Moment and will change into a coin later this year (Rebranding, Wallet Release and MainNet Release - Mainnet = its own blockchain, via an Ethereum Fork).

This means at the moment Ven is on the Ethereum Blockchain as a Token. This is a product of their ICO - Initial Coin Offering in order to fund start-up capitalization. It has also been stated that once the fork is complete the VET token will be a proof-of-authority consensus model to ensure future developments are aligned with the vision of the VeChain Foundation.

Additionally, there will be nodes and master nodes, albeit in a very limited fashion. It’s an interesting turn of events which may or may not have a positive impact on this particular project.

Can you earn Vechain?

Trading

VeChain investors can earn digital currency via exchanges. Users can earn coins through trading on different fiat and cryptocurrencies and take advantage of market fluctuations.

Where can you buy Vechain?

Vechain is listed on a few international cryptocurrency exchanges and is actively traded on websites like

Should you invest in Vechain?

As is the case with all blockchain-based projects, one has to wonder what the future holds for VeChain. It seems the project will soon undergo a major rebranding to VeChain Thor Blockchain as it forks from Ethereum. This means the existing VEN tokens will be converted to VET tokens. On the supply chain side, VeChain faces competition from projects like Waltonchain and Modum who are utilizing blockchain technology in a similar way.

However, logistics is a large industry with plenty of room for growth, it's also worth noting that all the three companies appear to be focusing on different niches which helps to prevent direct competition in initial stages of growth.

Interest in enterprise dApp platforms has recently surged with competitors like Ethereum, Cardano, EOS, and NEO all rising in price. Even though VeChain has yet to release Thor, their sheer number of partnerships they've been lining up should help to solidify them among these higher market cap projects and a strong contender in the dApp market.

For more on Vechain check out their website

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide any investment advice and is for educational purposes only. As of the time posting the writers may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency as all investments contain risk.

Tags: Cryptocurrency, blockchain