From the world to Vietnam: 10 Lessons in Blockchain-based traceability
Between 2017 and 2020, blockchain-based traceability was largely limited to small-scale pilots aimed at validating technical feasibility. From 2021 onward, as regulations such as EUDR, ESPR (EU), FSMA 204, MoCRA (US), and Orders 248/249 (China) were tightened, these models transitioned to large-scale real-world operations. By 2025–2026, many platforms had reached hundreds of millions of UIDs, processing millions of transactions per month and connecting directly with international customs, healthcare, and quarantine systems.
Vietnam is entering the deployment phase at exactly the moment global models have been validated. This is a "leapfrog" opportunity leveraging proven lessons to choose the right architecture from the outset, avoiding years of trial and error. The 10 case studies below represent key export industries including food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, luxury goods, and national infrastructure, providing practical insights for deployment on the NDAChain and NDATrace platforms.
Retail and food: Walmart + IBM food trust and the Zhejiang, China Model
Case Study 1: Walmart & IBM Food Trust – Traceability from 7 days to 2.2 seconds
Launched in 2016 and scaled from 2018, IBM Food Trust was deployed by Walmart and IBM on Hyperledger Fabric, using the GS1 EPCIS and Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) standards. From 2019, Walmart required leafy green suppliers to join the system, progressively expanding to mangoes, meat, and seafood.
Before deployment, tracing a mango batch from supermarket shelf back to the farm took nearly 7 days; after blockchain was applied, that time dropped to just 2.2 seconds. The system also integrates RFID at slaughterhouses, GPS/GIS for transportation, and environmental sensors for cold storage, creating end-to-end data across the entire supply chain.
🔑 Read more: How long does it take to trace the origin of a mango in a supermarket?
The GS1 EPCIS 2.0 and CBV standards are not optional, they are prerequisites for multi-party data reconciliation. By adopting these standards from the ground up, NDATrace enables Vietnamese businesses to connect directly with international retail systems without rebuilding separate data infrastructure.
Case Study 2: Zhejiang (China) – 67,000 businesses, 111 Million traceability scans
In May 2022, Zhejiang Province deployed a blockchain-based provincial food traceability system using the GS1 Digital Link standard. The initial target was 7,000 businesses and 200 retail points in the first year but results far exceeded expectations: 67,000 businesses joined, 5,200 retail points were upgraded, and more than 111 million QR scans were recorded.
The system saved more than 200 tonnes of paper and approximately 2.6 million CNY in printing costs. Notably, consumer quality complaints doubled and the corresponding rate of violations detected increased proportionally, demonstrating the effectiveness of "decentralized oversight" when end users actively participate in data verification.
🔑 Read more: Zhejiang - China: Implementing GS1 traceability labels for food products
Shared traceability infrastructure only delivers full value when it reaches sufficient scale. NDAChain allows Vietnam to deploy at the national level from the outset, leveraging network effects rather than going through years of fragmented regional rollout.
Agricultural exports: Digital durian in Thailand and AgriDigital in Australia
Case Study 3: Thailand – Digital durian for export to China
China imports approximately 1.56 million tonnes of durian per year (2024), valued at around USD 7 billion, with Thailand holding nearly 60% market share. In 2023, Thailand launched the "Digital Durian Initiative" in Chanthaburi, applying GS1-standard QR codes to individual durian fruits, linked to farm-of-origin records and inspection results.
🔑 Read more: Thailand leads the market thanks to applying traceability durian
The system focuses particularly on the parameters strictly controlled by China's General Administration of Customs (GACC) such as cadmium and auramine O dye levels under Orders 248/249. As a result, every exported product carries a complete traceability record that can be verified directly at the border.
The "UID linked to farm of origin + digitally signed inspection" model can be applied directly to Vietnamese agricultural products such as durian, mango, lychee, dragon fruit, and coffee. This is the fastest way to simultaneously satisfy GACC, EUDR, and major export market requirements.
Case Study 4: AgriDigital (Australia) – Blockchain for grain export chains
Launched in 2017, AgriDigital is a blockchain platform serving grain and oilseed transactions in Australia, now connecting more than 1,500 businesses with a total transaction value of approximately AUD 4 billion. Each batch is issued a "digital grain certificate" under the ISO 22005 standard, digitally signed by the inspection authority and the purchasing partner.
The system integrates smart contracts to automatically pay farmers once the silo confirms receipt of goods reducing payment time from approximately 14 days to under 24 hours, a significant improvement in cash flow across the agricultural supply chain.
Combining traceability with supply chain finance creates clear added value. When UIDs are linked to digitally signed inspection records on NDAChain, banks and buying partners can verify quickly, opening up the possibility of timely and accurate credit for farmers and cooperatives.
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals: VaxIN Bangladesh and MediLedger USA
Case Study 5: VaxIN (Bangladesh) – Managing 58.5 million vaccine doses per year
Bangladesh administers approximately 58.5 million vaccine doses per year to nearly 4 million people, achieving a coverage rate of around 82%. However, up to 20% of vaccines were previously wasted due to cold-chain breaks and management errors.
In 2021, the Government of Bangladesh, in partnership with UNICEF and Gavi, deployed VaxIN — a system that integrates cold-chain temperature sensors with blockchain to track each vaccine vial's journey in real time. Every change in temperature, transport event, or storage condition is recorded, significantly reducing the waste rate after two years of operation.
For sensitive products such as vaccines, biologics, and insulin, integrating IoT data (temperature, humidity) with blockchain is essential. NDATrace can record events under the EPCIS 2.0 standard on NDAChain, enabling regulators to monitor cold chains in real time and reduce quality risk.
Case Study 6: MediLedger (USA) – DSCSA compliance for pharmaceutical supply chains
MediLedger is an initiative by major pharmaceutical corporations including Pfizer, Genentech, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Walmart Pharmacy. It launched in 2017 and went into full operation in 2023 to meet the requirements of the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).
The system uses blockchain to manage unit-level serialization for each medicine pack. Every product is assigned a serial number and digitally signed at each step of the supply chain from manufacturer to distributor to pharmacy. When a code appears duplicated at two different locations, the system automatically detects and flags the anomaly.
Unit-level serialization combined with batch-level UIDs is a mandatory requirement for modern pharmaceutical traceability. NDATrace already supports a multi-level UID structure under the GS1 Digital Link standard, helping Vietnamese businesses meet domestic regulations while being ready to connect with international standards.
Luxury Goods and Diamonds: Aura Blockchain, Tracr, and Everledger
Case Study 7: Aura blockchain consortium – Shared infrastructure for the luxury industry
In 2021, LVMH, Prada Group, and Cartier (Richemont) founded the Aura Blockchain Consortium, a shared blockchain platform for the luxury goods industry. The system operates as a permissioned model, using DID/VC standards to issue a "Product Passport" for each item.
Customers can scan NFC on bags, jewelry, or watches to retrieve complete product information: material origins, manufacturing process, and ownership history. By 2024, more than 50 luxury brands had joined, establishing a cross-brand authentication standard across the entire industry.
🔑 Read more: Blockchain, traceability, and the rebuilding of trust in the luxury fashion industry
The consortium model is the fastest way to create value in the high-end sector. For premium Vietnamese products such as diamonds, pearls, silk, and ceramics, NDATrace can serve as the national shared infrastructure, while also providing additional authentication and legal certification advantages.
Case Study 8: Tracr (De Beers) & Everledger – Transparency across the global diamond supply chain
Tracr, De Beers' platform that went into full operation in 2022 after four years of testing, has recorded the journey of more than 1.5 million carats of diamonds from mine to retail on Hyperledger. In parallel, Everledger, a startup founded in 2015, has digitized more than 2 million diamonds and expanded into gemstones, fine wine, and recycled goods.
Both systems integrate Kimberley Process data and meet new G7 requirements for diamond traceability (effective from 2026), enabling origin verification and the exclusion of diamonds from prohibited regions.
For Vietnam's gemstone and diamond industry, supply chain transparency requirements are growing rapidly under both domestic and international regulations. The "product passport + multi-party verification" model used by Tracr and Everledger can be applied directly on NDATrace — particularly for products such as rubies, sapphires, spinels, and gold jewelry.
National Traceability Infrastructure: EBSI Trace4EU and China's BSN
Case Study 9: EBSI Trace4EU – The EU's Cross-Border traceability infrastructure
The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is the EU's cross-border blockchain infrastructure, operational since 2020. From 2023, the Trace4EU project has been deployed across 14 member states, applying a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) architecture based on the W3C DID and Verifiable Credentials (VC) standards.
🔑 Read more: What is EBSI? The role of EBSI in Europe’s digital infrastructure
The system allows traceability data to travel with products as they move across EU countries, while retaining full integrity and legal validity. From 19 July 2026, the EU Central DPP Registry will operate as the central connection point for Digital Product Passports under the ESPR regulation.
DID/SSI is no longer just a trend it is the official infrastructure standard for national-level traceability. By adopting W3C DID and Verifiable Credentials from the ground up, NDATrace enables Vietnamese businesses to connect directly with EU ecosystems such as EBSI and DPP without needing to rebuild their data systems.
Case Study 10: BSN (China) – National and International Blockchain infrastructure at scale
The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is China's national blockchain infrastructure, launched in 2020 with more than 100 participating cities, and expanded internationally from 2021 to more than 30 countries. BSN is divided into two branches: BSN Spartan for non-financial public networks outside China, and BSN-DDC for applications that do not use cryptocurrency.
🔑 Read more: What is BSN (Blockchain-based Service Network)? A complete A–Z overview
The network is used for a range of cross-border traceability applications, particularly in food trade between China, ASEAN, and the Middle East, serving as a shared data infrastructure layer across regional supply chains.
Compatibility with national infrastructures like BSN is an important prerequisite for Vietnamese traceability data to be accepted in the Chinese market. NDATrace has been designed with this compatibility in mind, enabling exporters to connect directly with the regional traceability ecosystem.
Shared lessons from 10 Case Studies for Vietnamese businesses in 2026
Five lessons from these global models can be applied directly by Vietnamese businesses.
First, GS1 Digital Link and EPCIS 2.0 are mandatory standards for multi-party supply chain data interoperability.
Second, W3C DID and Verifiable Credentials architecture is a prerequisite for meeting EU traceability requirements after 19 July 2026.
Third, national or industry-level shared infrastructure creates network effects that far outweigh individual business deployments.
Fourth, IoT integration such as cold-chain sensors, GPS, and RFID transforms traceability from declared data to real-time data.
Fifth, combining traceability with supply chain finance unlocks new value for farmers, cooperatives, and SMEs.
🔑 Read more: Blockchain-based traceability vs. traditional QR codes: 7 core differences
These principles are already built into NDATrace's architecture from data standards and identity to ecosystem scalability. As a result, Vietnamese businesses can shorten their deployment cycle and go directly to an internationally compliant operating model without years of trial and error.
NDATrace: Bringing global lessons to Vietnam's traceability infrastructure
NDATrace is a national shared product identification, authentication, and traceability platform, operating on the NDAChain blockchain and the NDADID decentralized identity platform. The platform is built in full alignment with international standards including GS1 Digital Link, EPCIS 2.0, W3C DID/Verifiable Credentials, and ISO/IEC 27001 ensuring interoperability with major ecosystems such as EBSI (EU) and BSN (China).
🔑 Read more: Blockchain in traceability: Strategic pillar for Vietnam's digital economy
Rather than building separate infrastructure, Vietnamese businesses can deploy directly on NDATrace to meet international standards, leverage domestic legal certification, integrate IoT via the EPCIS standard, and expand into supply chain finance based on digitally signed UID data. This approach shortens deployment timelines and accelerates entry into global supply chains.
NDAChain – The foundation for a National-Standard, Internationally interoperable traceability system
The 10 case studies from Walmart, LVMH, De Beers, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Australia, the United States, and the EU are not stories from distant markets they are operational lessons already applied across hundreds of millions of products and millions of verified transactions every month. Vietnamese businesses in 2026 are well-positioned to choose the right architecture from the start, building on the NDATrace national shared platform aligned with international standards and interoperable with both EBSI Trace4EU and BSN.
🔑 Read more: National Blockchain – The “Digital Key” to protecting consumers
Contact us for advice on applying these lessons from 10 global case studies to your business at https://www.ndatrace.vn/en. The NDATrace team is ready to propose a traceability architecture tailored to your industry, scale, and specific export markets.
