ShipChain
Summary
ShipChain is building an end to end logistics and supply chain visibility platform, based both on Ethereum and Loom for scalability. ShipChain has a modified fork of the Loom Dappchain as a Layer 2 solution to isolate supply chain transactions from the mainnet, while still posting back to the Ethereum mainnet, in what they are calling Industry Chains. ShipChain is separating into two distinct entities, one being a non-profit foundation to steward the sidechain as well as open standards and open source software for supply chain and logistics, and a for-profit developer on top of the open source solutions.
History
ShipChain was initially founded in 2017 by John Monarch, Brian D. Evans, Lee Bailey, Sami Rusani, and Aaron Kelly. It performed its first pilot with Perdue Farms across 2018, and it officially had a public launch in January 2019.
Testnet
The ShipChain network is currently in testnet with nodes validating blocks actively. Their API solution and Vault Engine are in production and available as open source products.
Plug and Play
ShipChain was added to the Plug and Play accelerator program in Silicon Valley, focused on Enterprise/B2B solutions. ShipChain was in the Food/Beverage program in 2019, with a focus on supply chain traceability and trust using public blockchain.
SHIP Token
The SHIP token is the native token of the ShipChain sidechain. The token is required for dapp developers to deploy contracts, modeled after the Loom Karma system. End users do not pay for direct contract interactions, developers that deploy live contracts are responsible for gas costs, reducing the barrier to entry for end users. Validator nodes on the sidechain are paid in SHIP.