Kulr launches blockchain for battery supply chain monitoring
US power material startup Kulr Technology has developed a blockchain system for the verification of cells in the supply chain.
One of the initial products that will be recorded on the blockchain will include lithium-ion batteries screened to meet NASA’s WI 37A methodology for use in space missions such as the Vestri asteroid mining project.
Using the distributed ledger blockchain technology to create a secure and immutable record of the testing data will benefit all future users of these batteries, who will have access to proven testing results.
There are several distributed ledger projects developing similar supply chain systems, particularly for battery cells and packs. This is largely driven by Europe’s battery passport requirements for tracking the materials, manufacturing, usage and end-of-life. This is also looking at ways to reduce the power consumption of the transactions on the distributed ledger.
Iota in Switzerland for example is supplying its open source DLT blockchain technology to Eviden in France for the Eviden Digital Passport Solution (EDPS) to track EV batteries from production to end of life.
This is one of the first ready-to-use DLT-based Digital Product Passports (DPPs)
In the Kulr case, each battery cell will have its metadata minted as a non-fungible token (NFT) on the blockchain. This is built on Coinbase’s Base L2 chain, which is ultimately built on the Ethereum digital token.
When a battery is purchased, the NFT can be transferred to the buyer’s on-chain wallet or moved to a “burn” wallet maintained by KULR to indicate ownership has been transferred. For large quantity customers, KULR will establish wallets to easily transfer NFTs associated with their orders. KULR designed an internal tool that synchronizes with encrypted KULR-owned wallets to view the current inventory.
This comes after Kulr moved its cash reserves into another blockchain-based digital currency, bitcoin. “After launching our bitcoin treasury strategy last December, we became curious about what other aspects of the crypto ecosystem could benefit our business operations. Moving our supply chain tracking onto the blockchain seemed like a natural move for us,” said Michael Mo, CEO of Kulr.
“We are leveraging proven blockchain technologies to deliver commercial applications that provide our customers with a trustworthy data source and improved operational efficiency. I firmly believe many aerospace products and commercial products could benefit from an immutable and verifiable chain of custody.”
Decentralizing the inventory tracking system on a blockchain offers enhanced transparency, security, and real-time visibility across the entire supply chain. Recording each inventory item as a tamper-proof, timestamped entry on a distributed ledger reduces the risk of data manipulation and ensures that all stakeholders have access to a single source of data. This reduces reliance on centralized systems that are vulnerable to outages or unauthorized access.
Additionally, blockchain’s traceability features enable Kulr to verify product authenticity, monitor asset movement, and streamline audits.
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