How Blockchain and Privacy Are Transforming Global Supply Chain Transparency
Global supply chains span continents, partners, regulations and large volumes of operational data. Yet the infrastructure that supports them is often fragmented. Information sits in disconnected systems, provenance is difficult to verify, and sensitive data may be inconsistently protected across borders. On top of this, supply chain platforms rarely interoperate, and partners often sit at very different stages of digital maturity, making collaboration even harder.
As organizations face growing pressure from regulators, customers, sustainability frameworks and operational risk, the need for transparent, trusted and privacy-preserving supply chain infrastructure has never been more significant.
Blockchain technology, particularly when combined with privacy-first architecture, is emerging as a key enabler of this shift. This year, CRYOPDP’s blockchain-backed application, Atlas Path, developed together with Applied Blockchain, won a 2025 Supply Chain Excellence Award for digital transformation, reflecting the growing momentum around trusted supply chain data infrastructure.
The Challenge: Supply Chains Need Both Transparency and Privacy
Modern supply chains face multiple pressures:
- Fragmented data across manufacturers, logistics providers, distributors, regulators and end clients
- Lack of interoperability between supply chain platforms, creating friction, duplication and inconsistent data flows
- Siloed digital transformation across partners; organisations often operate at very different stages of digital maturity, making alignment difficult
- Limited traceability of materials, processes, handovers and conditions
- Rising compliance expectations around ESG, due diligence, and industry-specific regulations
- Increased risk of fraud and counterfeiting
- A need for collaboration across untrusted ecosystems
- Data exposure concerns, since complete transparency is often impossible due to commercial sensitivity
This combination means supply chains require transparency, but only when data is shared securely, selectively and with strong governance.
Blockchain, designed as an auditable and tamper-resistant shared ledger, fits naturally into this environment.
How Blockchain Supports Modern Supply Chains
Blockchain enables:
- End-to-end traceability: A complete record of a product’s journey, from raw material to end delivery, enabling provenance verification and rapid issue resolution.
- A shared, tamper-proof source of truth: All parties rely on the same auditable data, reducing disputes, paperwork and reconciliation.
- Secure, selective data sharing: Companies can share proofs, compliance data or event logs without revealing sensitive information to all participants.
- Stronger ESG and regulatory reporting: Immutable, time-stamped data supports sustainability disclosures, emissions monitoring, ethical sourcing and safety compliance.
- More resilient and efficient multi-party collaboration: Blockchain becomes a neutral infrastructure layer supporting supply-chain ecosystems with diverse participants.
Real-World Blockchain Supply Chain Use Cases
To illustrate how these capabilities play out in practice, here are real-world examples across different supply chain environments.
1. Maritime Compliance and Vessel Traceability
Example: Lloyd’s Register: Blockchain-Enabled Ship Registration
Lloyd’s Register, a leading provider of classification and compliance services to the marine and offshore industries, explored how blockchain could support the maritime classification process and collaborated with Applied Blockchain to create the first demonstrator capable of registering ships into Class using blockchain technology.
The prototype register tool demonstrated how classification data could benefit from immutability, auditability and more efficient access.
“A blockchain-based register provides immutability and auditability, therefore providing enhanced trust in the information provided on the platform and also potentially facilitating the trusted information to be available ‘up-to-the-minute’ allowing financing, insuring, payments etc to be provided more dynamically.”
– Nick Brown, Marine & Offshore Director, Lloyd’s Register
2. Cold-Chain Transparency in Life Sciences Logistics
Example: CRYOPDP (DHL Health Logistics): Temperature-Controlled Shipment Authentication
CRYOPDP, part of DHL Health Logistics and a member of the DHL Pharma Specialised Network, is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics for the life sciences and healthcare industries. Operating across 15 countries in the US, EMEA and APAC, the company supports clinical trials, biologics, cell and gene therapies and other high-value shipments where data integrity and regulatory compliance are critical.
CRYOPDP needed a way to achieve real-time visibility, tamper-proof delivery validation and secure coordination across its distributed network of drivers, field agents and global operations teams without exposing sensitive operational data.
To meet this challenge, Applied Blockchain developed Atlas Path, a dedicated logistics platform built on Silent Data’s privacy-first blockchain infrastructure. The system enables instant status updates from drivers and field agents, tamper-proof proof of delivery, end-to-end shipment visibility, and secure, privacy-preserving coordination between drivers, offices and customers. Atlas Path has become one of the first real-world implementations of a privacy-enabled blockchain platform in healthcare logistics, demonstrating how transparency and compliance can be delivered without compromising confidentiality.
The project was recognised at the 2025 Supply Chain Excellence Awards, where CRYOPDP won the SAP Digital Transformation Award – Software, highlighting Atlas Path as an industry-leading example of innovation in regulated supply chains.
3. ESG & Environmental Accountability in Commodity Supply Chains
Example: Watr Protocol – Environmental Data Platform for Sustainable Trade
Watr is an environmental data platform shaping sustainable trade, helping organisations monitor, verify and report their ecological footprint.
Using a stack that includes Blockchain, IoT and AI, Watr enhances transparency and accountability across global supply chains, supporting ethical sourcing and compliance.
Maryam Ayati, Co-Founder of Watr, spoke to Adi Ben-Ari on the Applied Blockchain Podcast, discussing how blockchain-backed data can support responsible commodity markets.
4. Provenance and Authenticity in Luxury Goods
Example: Cult Wines – Blockchain-Enabled Wine Investment Platform
Cult Wines is a leader in fine wine investment, offering inventory management solutions centred on traceability and authenticity.
Their “Cult X” platform, built on Algorand’s blockchain, enables a decentralised marketplace where transactions are recorded to ensure verification and authenticity, helping protect investors from counterfeits and ensuring transparent provenance for high-value assets.
5. Transparency in Humanitarian Supply Chains
Examples: United Nations – Blockchain Solutions for Aid Distribution
Applied Blockchain has supported United Nations initiatives aimed at improving transparency and coordination in humanitarian operations, where reliable, auditable data directly influences aid delivery outcomes.
As part of the Blockchain for Zero Hunger programme, the World Food Programme (WFP) engaged Applied Blockchain to conduct a comprehensive architecture and code review of Building Blocks, WFP’s blockchain-based system for authenticating and registering cash transfers. This work helped WFP strengthen the platform and deploy a more robust system tailored to refugee camps in Jordan.
Since its initial launch in 2018, the blockchain-backed system has supported over 100,000 individuals in refugee camps and now reaches more than 1 million people each month across four active countries. To date, it has facilitated US$ 325 million in assistance, processed US$ 555 million in cash-based transfers, and saved US$ 3.5 million in bank fees, demonstrating how shared, auditable infrastructure can significantly improve efficiency and accountability in humanitarian logistics.
Together, these initiatives show how blockchain can support trust, coordination and more effective information-sharing in humanitarian supply chains, where operational clarity is essential.
Why Privacy Matters Just as Much as Transparency
Transparency alone is not enough. Many supply chains operate in highly competitive or regulated environments, where exposing sensitive data could be risky or non-compliant.
Businesses must protect:
- Commercially sensitive operational data
- Supplier relationships and pricing
- Proprietary sourcing processes
- Healthcare and personal data
- Compliance records that cannot be publicly shared
Modern approaches, including permissioned blockchain networks, privacy-preserving smart contracts, and selective disclosure techniques, allow organizations to benefit from traceability without compromising confidentiality.
Applied Blockchain’s work, including the privacy-first architectures underpinning Silent Data, is grounded in the principle that supply chain transparency must always be paired with strong privacy and access control.
What This Means for Enterprises Looking Ahead
Across maritime, healthcare, commodities, luxury goods, humanitarian logistics and beyond, blockchain is emerging as core digital infrastructure for:
- Trusted, verifiable data exchange
- ESG and compliance reporting
- Provenance and authenticity
- Automation of multi-party processes
- Secure collaboration across ecosystems
As adoption accelerates, the strategic question for enterprises becomes less “Should we use blockchain?” and more “Where in our supply chain can trusted, auditable and privacy-preserving data create the most value?”.
Conclusion
Global supply chains are the backbone of world trade, but they rely on data flows that demand both transparency and strong privacy controls. Blockchain, combined with modern privacy technologies, is enabling supply-chain systems that are trustworthy, auditable, resilient and secure.
If you are exploring blockchain for supply chain transparency, ESG reporting, provenance, or privacy-first collaboration, we would be happy to discuss how these technologies could support your organization.
For organizations exploring practical ways to implement privacy-preserving traceability, the Silent Data Supply Chain Blueprint offers a build-your-own starting point for designing secure, transparent supply-chain applications.