Partnerships are all to common in the crypto world, but actual partnerships, as opposed to a blockchain project renting services and calling it a partnership, are much less prevalent. A genuine partnership with an established company can boost reputation as well as coin price. In that sense, supply chain blockchain project Origin Trail scored a massive hit recently when they announced such a partnership with technology giant Oracle.
We are proud to announce a very special partnership. We are working with @Oracle on an integration between the Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service and the OriginTrail network.https://t.co/OInwxba9an
— OriginTrail (@origin_trail) December 3, 2018
After what might have been a nerve-wracking delay for Origin Trail investors or fans, Oracle responded three days later with a Tweet of their own confirming the partnership. According to reports it will integrate its Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service with the OriginTrail platform. Even in a brutal bear market the announcement resulted in a price boost of 38% for the coin, illustrating how seriously genuine partnerships are, and should be, taken in the fight for mainstream adoption.
Few and Far Between
Not many crypto projects can boast genuine partnerships with names like Oracle, but some have stolen a march on their competition and lead the way. Ripple Labs have signed up American Express and Santander, both of whom are using their xCurrent system, although not necessarily the XRP token itself. Stellar is working with IBM and IOTA is working with Bosch, while VeChain has partnerships with a number of high-profile names such as DNV GL, BMW, and PwC.
On the opposite end of the scale, we have someone like Tron chief Justin Sun who, until recently, was fond of making announcements about announcements and hyping up potential partnerships which turn out to be anything but. His behaviour doesn’t do the reputation of the space any good, to the point where it borders on ridiculousness at times.
Ongoing Adoption
Origin Trail’s announcement is a welcome one, not just for the project, but for the crypto community as a whole. With so much focus on price recently, the fundamentals have been forgotten. Partnerships like this, and TE-FOOD’s expansion with French retail giant Auchan, demonstrate that underneath the hype and publicity over the 2018 crash, there is an undercurrent of very serious and potentially very beneficial work being done to make the promises of blockchain come true. They aren’t as sexy or attention-grabbing as $100,000 Bitcoin predictions, but in the long run they matter much more, and hopefully 2019 will see more announcements in a similar vein.
