The International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation is releasing its first crypto-token using a public blockchain. Created in partnership with Veridium Labs Ltd. (a carbon credits startup), the verve tokens will be distributed on the blockchain of Stellar, and they are aimed at giving organizations that pollute the environment a way to counterbalance that damage by supporting an Indonesian rainforest patch.
The Complexity of Tracking Pollution
While carbon credits are new in their own right, the procedure of tracking the complete extent of pollutions, then assuring that the money was truly used to replenish the environment is both opaque and time-consuming.
By exporting this whole process to a blockchain that can be audited easily, and tokenizing the credits in the same way monetary values are tokenized by bitcoin, the newly appointed blockchain offering manager of IBM – Jared Klee, has confidence that a market that is vibrant could ultimately be opened up to a much broader audience.
Jared Klee’s Comment on the New Token
Mr. Klee who was put in charge of the token initiatives of IBM earlier this year said that they are developing a fungible digital currency, a token which one of its goals is to build a market where individuals can trade, sell, buy, and redeem it for the original credits. You open up a universe of possibilities by having a liquid market, he added.
The new IBM tokens are designed upon the public blockchain of Stellar and through smart contracts series following the whole process of accounting for carbon emission of a firm and counterbalancing that pollution.
Together, these credits are expected to counterbalance an average of 4,400,000 of tons of pollution every year by making sure the forest survives.
The founder of Veridium – Todd Lemons, said that they’ve taken not only the asset of the environment, the credit, which is hard to classify and quantify on the balance sheet, but they have also automated the process of selecting, measuring, and counterbalancing just by virtue of incorporating the token into the transaction.
Princess Ogono is a writer, lawyer and fitness enthusiast. She believes cryptocurrencies are the future. When she's not writing, she spends time with her adorable cat, Ginger and works out often.
