It is reported that Starbucks, a US-based coffee chain, will use the technology giant Microsoft’s Azure blockchain service to collaborate with coffee growers in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Rwanda to pilot a blockchain-based coffee supply chain tracking system. The system is said to allow customers to track their coffee production processes and open up potential financial opportunities for back-end coffee growers.
Techek news site GeekWire reported on May 6 that Starbucks, a US-based coffee chain, will use technology giant Microsoft’s Azure blockchain service to track coffee production.
Starbucks first announced its “bean to up” supply chain tracking program in 2018, saying it will work with coffee growers in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Rwanda to pilot a blockchain-based coffee supply chain tracking system. The system is said to allow customers to track their coffee production processes and open up potential financial opportunities for back-end coffee growers.
Starbucks further pointed out that in order to widely disseminate the results of the project, the pilot project will be open source.
According to GeekWire, the two companies today demonstrated a series of joint programs at Microsoft’s Build Conference. Other projects have reportedly included forecasting drive-thru orders and accessing the Internet of Things (IoT) devices in different cafes.
As Cointelegraph recently reported, Microsoft just announced the Azure blockchain service on May 2. Azure Blockchain Service is a blockchain as a service (BaaS) platform that currently supports Quorum, JPMorgan’s Ethereum-based platform. The new Microsoft BaaS is designed to simplify the use of blockchain federation networks from creation to modification.
Some details that surfaced earlier this week indicate that Starbucks will accept bitcoin-based (BTC) payments after an equity deal with the US cryptocurrency trading platform, Bakk. According to reports, since the cryptocurrency is instantly converted to fiat currency, the chain does not actually process bitcoin.
