But can they do it (ahem) at scale? In one of a small number of real-world deployments of the distributed-ledger technology, logistics startup dexFreight, a Florida-based venture with a dozen employees, this month put a delivery of more than 5,000 pounds of frozen seafood on a blockchain. All told, the firm’s blockchain-enabled shipment spanned a route of just 30 miles, most of it straight down a main highway, from a five-story commercial freezer in Medley, Fla., to a nearby seafood...

Photo: frederic j. brown/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Good day, CIOs. In a bid to boost the speed and accuracy of food recalls, among other benefits, Walmart Inc. is requiring direct suppliers of lettuce, spinach and other greens to join its food-tracking blockchain by early next year, CIO Journal’s Kim Nash reports. Unveiled Monday, the move comes after 18 months of tests tracing the origins of berries, mangoes, baby food, chicken and other goods on a system developed by International...

The Bank of China’s chief information officer recently shared details on the bank’s blockchain efforts as he unveiled plans to boost fintech spending, according to local news reports. Liu Quiwan said the state-run commercial bank, which is distinct from the central bank of China, will increase investing in a range of fintech tools to more than 1% of its annual operating budget, though the exact amount was unclear, China-based The Paper reported last week. Speaking at a press conference in...

Technology firms that provide IT infrastructure for stock markets and exchanges have been slow to embrace blockchain even as the distributed ledger technology spreads to retail, manufacturing, distribution and other sectors beyond Wall Street, Nasdaq Inc. said in a report Tuesday. Best known as the technology underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain enables users to add blocks of information onto a chain of transactions, creating an immutable history of approved, time-stamped...

Another 8% said they were conducting short-term testing with blockchain, 14% had medium or long-term planning in the works and 43% said it was on the radar, but they had no plans to test or develop or deploy it. Thirty-four percent said they had “no interest” in the technology. The survey included businesses in a range of industries around the world, together representing a total of $13 trillion in annual revenue and $277 billion in IT spending, Gartner said. Best known as the record-keeping...