GrainChain Goes Global On Symbiont’s Blockchain. Small Farmers Are Signing Up.

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GrainChain completed its $8.2 Million Series A in early March, and in short order, announced that it would open its blockchain network for business in Mexico, Honduras, and the United States.

12,000 new members are subscribed and are waiting to be on-boarded in 2020 to the system from emerging economies, like Honduras. Grainchain’s service expedites agricultural settlement payments to farmers and suppliers while providing the immediate availability of commodities to buyers.

Luis Macias, Chief Executive and Founder of GrainChain, has been adding new members to his network, now trading 24 different dry grain commodities with 1,284 members in the U.S., 870 in Mexico, and 800 in Honduras. “We help small farmers cut-out the middleman and earn more from their crop.”, Mr. Macias said. “Our payment rails can also reach all commercial banks in the U.S.”

A problem for small farmers is that the price they are quoted may not be what the finally see as payment. Several variables interact with their supply chain, where the quality of grains becomes open for interpretation and unknown risks. For example, a farmer may have access to one or two grain elevators because of transportation constraints. Another example, a farmer’s price quote can change because he cannot enforce his original price in a dispute.

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 17: Former U.S. Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) (R) speaks to members of the media in … [+] front of the U.S. Supreme Court as George Isaacson (L), lead counsel for the defendants in the Wayfair case, and Chairman of the board for Overstock.com Jonathan Johnson (2nd L) listen April 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in South Dakota v. Wayfair, regarding whether states can collect sales taxes on purchases from out-of-state online retailers. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Jonathan Johnson, President of Medici Ventures and CEO of Overstock, says, “Farmers know they will get paid.” Mr. Johnson feels that this is a benefit and competitive advantage for GrainChain members, who not only benefit from blockchain’s ability to ensure transition trust and payment record but also gain access to GrainChain’s logistical tools.

Medici Ventures led the latest funding round for GrainChain.

GrainChain, during its pilot run, completed 350,000 executed transactions and has processed over 13 billion pounds (approximately 5.9 Million Metric Tons) of dry gains for farmers globally. As a size comparison, based on data from Tradingeconomics.com, the U.S. produced over 440 Million Metric Tons of cereal gains in 2017. This might be comparing apples to oranges, but it provides a rough benchmark where Mr. Macias’ operation has made a small industry foothold.

Based on the press release today, GrainChain stated it had increased its performance scale by moving its operation to the Symbiont enterprise blockchain platform, Assembly​ (TM)​.  Previously on Hyperledger Fabric, GrainChain decided to move to Symbiont’s network for settlement.

GrainChain’s business vision is to provide agricultural economies better technology, effectively giving small farmers the same tools as big farm operations. “GrainChain uses smart contracts to empower low-income farmers with accelerated payments, which may be critical for struggling farming businesses.”

“Our mission has always been to help support farmers around the world,” comments Luis Macias, Chief Executive and Founder of GrainChain. “By pulling the agriculture supply chain onto blockchain technology, we’re helping every participant in that ecosystem — from farmers to bankers to grain elevators — get fairer value, faster payment and a bigger participant pool. We cannot be constrained by technology — which is why we moved to the Symbiont network. Symbiont is the blockchain engine that will help power our global vision.”

GrainChain recently closed a funding round of $8.2m, led by Medici Ventures, the wholly-owned blockchain subsidiary of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), which has also invested in Symbiont.

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