The bear market seems to be over and several major cryptocurrencies such as EOS and Cardano are booming. VeChain has been somewhat lagging in its recovery compared to other projects, but then again, it didn’t bust as much as most projects during the crash. Has the platform had its moment or are these price movements all just the humble beginnings of something big?
VeChain could very well have what it takes to become one of the blockchain platforms that reaches mass adoption. Here are 5 major reasons to invest in VeChain.
Note: This is not professional financial advice and you should always do your own research before investing.
1. A Strong Network of Partnerships
Ever since the VeChain project publicly launched, the team has been announcing partnership after partnership. Some notable companies that VeChain has partnered with are PWC, DNV GL and BMW, but these are just the biggest international names from a long list.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vechain/comments/7p31tr/vechain_partnerships/
The BMW partnership wasn’t included in this infographic, but it was announced during VeChain’s rebranding event together with the announcement of a partnership with the Oxford University Mathematical Institute.
Additionally, VeChain also has two valuable partners in the Chinese tobacco industry, the China State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the National Tobacco Corporation. The Chinese market is responsible for roughly 41% of all cigarettes smoked globally and a major problem for this industry is counterfeit cigarettes. Together with its two national-level tobacco partnerships, VeChain can help tackle this issue by launching decentralized supply chain applications specifically for the Chinese tobacco industry.
On top of that, VeChain also has two large financial partners. The first one is BitOcean, a Japanese company that is building ATM solutions for cryptocurrencies. The second financial partner is Fanghuwang, a company that is providing collateral-backed loans to small to mid-sized businesses. What applications will be specifically built for these companies is still largely unknown, although it’s clear that the VeChain platform will assist these companies in their data management and identification processes.
VeChain has more partnerships than even most blockchain projects that have a larger market cap. In fact, in terms of number of valuable partners, VeChain is one of the biggest projects in the industry today, only behind Ethereum and its Ethereum Enterprise Alliance and Ripple’s financial companies network.
As stated on the VeChain website:
We are as strong as our portfolio of partners.
2. A Broad Range of Use Cases
As indicated by VeChain’s highly diverse partnerships, the blockchain platform sets out to bring the advantages of decentralized applications and smart contracts to a large number of different industries. These industries include, but are certainly not limited to:
- Supply chain management
- Automobile
- Tobacco
- Renewable energy
- Internet of Things
- Data management
- Financial
- Luxury goods
- Sustainable development
- Liquor
- Retail
- Agriculture
- Logistics
Focusing on all these industries may seem like a little too much and give rise to the idea that VeChain might be a jack of all trades but master of none. However, the pragmatic approach that VeChain takes gives us reason to believe that they can actually pull off serving all of these industries.
The company has been working tirelessly on establishing strategic partnerships in all of these sectors which will provide them with the necessary insights in each of its partner’s industries. The idea behind this is to find points of frustration within each industry through its partners, build a blockchain-based solution for this, and roll it out.
The initial steps will be highly demanding, but once solutions to real-world problems are in place, these applications can easily be deployed for multiple industry players and across different sectors. It takes time to built a road—but once it’s there, getting from A to B is easy.
3. A Strong Team and Vision
In contrast to most other blockchain projects, VeChain’s blockchain has already been rolling out business applications since 2015 on its private chain. Through this, the team has amassed significant industry experience, and is aware of existing problems in a variety of industries. This experience is one of the major reasons the VeChain leadership has been able to attract so many valuable partnerships.
The VeChain platform is developed and maintained by the VeChain Foundation, which is a non-profit based in Singapore. Its CEO is Sunny Lu, a rising star in the blockchain industry and previously involved in the creation of another Chinese blockchain startup, Qtum. He is backed by several experts in a multitude of tech-oriented industries, and supported by a globally dispersed team comprising over 90 developers.
Sunny Lu has also recently reached out to the large VeChain community, and in an open letter he thanked and praised the project’s supporters and investors. Sunny Lu also expressed his own confidence in the VeChain project:
I wanted to firmly express that in three years, the public will be using VeChain every day and never even know it.
He also described his and his team’s vision for blockchain technology as a whole, the global impact it can have, and the place of VeChain in this digital revolution. The letter signals the down-to-earth and well-thought out long-term strategy of the VeChain team.
It’s hard not to get excited by quotes from Lu, such as:
As the leading enterprise level blockchain, at mainnet launch, the VeChainThor blockchain will be the public blockchain with the most business activity in the world, in turn creating the most real-world value through the use cases of these influential entities.
4. The China Connection
Thus far, NEO is the One from China based on its total market value, and VeChain is the runner-up. Even though NEO originates from China, the platform has a much more international appeal than VeChain.
At the moment, it seems like the Chinese government is much more involved with VeChain than it is with NEO. VeChain’s most notable connection to the Chinese government is their national-level partnership concerning the to-be-built city of Guian. Additionally, the previously mentioned governmental tobacco industry partners also give rise to the idea of VeChain’s strong links with the Chinese authorities.
It might seem like the Chinese government isn’t too fond of cryptocurrencies, but that is a common misconception. The Chinese government isn’t a fan of foreign cryptocurrencies that could lead to capital outflows from the Chinese economy, but they love homegrown blockchain projects that attract overseas capital to flow into their own economy. VeChain is in the lead in this regard.
5. Upcoming Launch of VeChain Thor Mainnet
Last, but certainly not least is the upcoming launch of VeChain’s mainnet, which is expected to happen on the June 30, 2018. The platform’s so-called Apotheosis has been the transformation of the platform from a private, experimental platform to a full fledged, application-filled, enterprise-level public platform.
With the number of corporate partnerships VeChain has, we can expect a continuous roll-out of decentralized applications for these partners. In his open letter to the community, Lu reaffirmed the platform’s ambitions to become the one-stop shop for blockchain applications to meet the needs of enterprises and governments.
The VeChain Thor platform will be a highly complex one and to fully explain it, the VeChain foundation has begun a series of articles that explains all the technicalities and innovations of the VeChain Thor mainnet.
A great feature of the to-be-launched platform for VeChain token holders is that it will allow for a means of passive income. Token holders will receive Thor tokens as a reward for staking their coins. You can calculate your passive income based on your VeChain holdings here.
Concluding Remarks
The VeChain team is building a large network comprising companies that operate in a large variety of industries. Through this, they acquire the knowledge and experience to create decentralized applications on their platform that initially serve their partners, but once these dapps are fine tuned, they can be used by entire industries. As indicated by the team’s broad orientation in terms of different industries, we can expect solid applications that can be used by all different kinds of industries and can be continuously upgraded based on a diverse input of user experience.
The team, under the leadership of Sunny Lu, displays an ambitious yet well-informed and sustainable vision for the future of the VeChain platform. This clear vision is supported by over two years of experience and acquired knowledge in the industry. There are multiple signs that VeChain has the backing of the Chinese government, and could be the blockchain unicorn of China.
With all this in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see fireworks once VeChain’s mainnet is launched and the applications start coming.
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