Ambrosus (AMB) initially attempted to raise close to $100 million for their ICO. While they never managed to gain such a high amount, there was still a large amount of interest and curiosity in the project among the community.

However, why exactly was there this curiosity and anticipation? Ambrosus is attempting to develop a blockchain-based ecosystem for supply chains, ensuring the origin, quality, compliance and proper handling of items tracked by the network.

Primarily the project aims to combine sensors, blockchain technology, and smart contracts to assure the transparency of the chosen products.

Their focus is to primarily improve supply chains for life-essential products, specifically food and medicine. Examples of use cases include, but not limited to:

• Food origins and tracking
• Logistic sustainable improvement
• Food delivery with the middleman

The process is started by first a measuring device which tracks variables like temperature, which is essential, especially when transporting food that needs to be maintained in cold storage like meats and fruits.

The data is then encrypted, signed and transmitted to a communication device over something like an RFID, after which the data is then sent to a distributed storage which has a history of all measurements and is also sent to the blockchain.

Next step in the process, is the data then goes to the end user interface, such as a website or a mobile app. The user then would be able to trace the data back to the product origin.

Ambrosus are trying to solve a genuine problem of ensuring the quality and integrity of raw materials and products along the supply chain. They may be able to help reduce contamination, foodborne illnesses, and counterfeit goods.

The project has a strong team and a very well-regarded set of advisors such as Parity and Professors Malcolm Povey and Ester Amstad; this helps legitimize Ambrosus even at its early stages.

Also worth noting, is that new regulations or more stringent requirements around the distribution of specialty goods, such as medicinal products could increase demand for supply chain Quality Assurance.

Despite the positive aspects of Ambrosus, the project is not without its challenges.

One of the key concerns is competition. Freedom drug sensor and tracking do already have existing products such as Modum. Ambrosus also faces competition from companies in the traditional space, including GlobeRanger and Oceasoft.

There is also the concern of long-term adoption, as Ambrosus have stated they will be subsidizing installation to help with the adoption.  They believe that once the process is adopted, other companies will ask to install the sensors because consumers may want to buy from someone they can see the quality of vs. someone they have to trust blindly.

However, despite this, the future remains bright for Ambrosus. The kinds of hardware sensors that Ambrosus are aiming to develop aren’t widely used outside of research labs, as it’s a slow and expensive process bridging the divide between research and real-world use, and perhaps not many companies are in a good position to do this. That might also be why so many of the existing companies in this space are focusing on simpler sensors – temperature detection and anti-tampering devices.

Ambrosus want to try to tell the whole story about the product – traceability, and temperature being only a small part of that.

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