Electronics corporation IBM announced that it has signed a partnership with environmental fintech startup Veridium Labs to issue a cryptocurrency token on the Stellar blockchain. The initiative, unveiled Tuesday, will tokenize carbon credits, allowing polluting companies to offset environmental damage.
Proceeds from the sale of the “verde” token will go towards restoring 250 square kilometers of rainforest on the island of Borneo in Indonesia.
Carbon credits have been around for quite some time, but they are difficult to value and maintain traditional accounting. The verde token, on the other hand, is fungible and can be publicly traded and purchased on the Stellar network, eliminating the friction and opacity of the carbon credit supply chain.
“For years, we have tried to mitigate environmental damage, but previous decisions have been controversial,” said Todd Lemons, CEO and co-founder of Veridium. “Our digital environmental assets can help companies and institutional investors buy and use carbon credits to mitigate environmental damage today, and hedge potential carbon risks in the future.”
Notably, the initiative is not just a general concept or pilot program. These tokens will also not be available only to select companies. Rather, given the previous partnerships of IBM and Stellar, credits will be traded on the Stellar public network, allowing the program to achieve global reach.
“By leveraging the public blockchain network, we can help Veridium create a new sustainable marketplace that is business-friendly and has potential to help our planet,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM's industrial platforms and blockchain division.
“This is a great example of how industries can be reinvented, in this case, with blockchain. This technology will help establish a much more efficient and transparent approach to accounting and offsetting carbon credits, which will create the conditions for companies and individuals to take part in improving the environment,” she concluded.
According to https://www.ccn.com
You May Also Like
Former Visa executive joins Nuggets
Kevin Jenkins, former managing director of Visa, has joined crypto company Nuggets as a board member. British company Nuggets has already achieved significant success in the field of payments and digital storage around the world, including in China. Jenkins' years of experience will further contribute to this success.
Blockchain will bring billions to Amazon and Microsoft
According to Kash Rangan, an analyst at Bank of America, these companies could combine blockchain with existing cloud computing operations, thereby reducing logistics costs.
