Another liner shipping crypto-token emerges

Former Maersk executives launch a new blockchain- and sensor-backed container registry and initial coin offering as crypto creeps further into the container shipping industry.    A new crypto-currency-backed platform for the shipping industry this week said it would begin offering crypto-tokens in April to transact on, and invest in, the platform.
   The Global Shared Container Platform (GSCP) is being launched by Blockshipping, a Danish entity founded by liner shipping veteran Peter Ludvigsen, and advised by former Maersk Group vice president and Hapag-Lloyd chief commercial officer Jesper Præstensgaard, as well as industry veteran Franck Kayser.
   The concept behind the platform is to build a blockchain- and sensor-backed registry of container assets to underlie the liner shipping industry’s transactions in a centralized manner.
   The platform will issue two tokens: one, an internal utility token for clearing and settlement of transactions on the platform, and the other, an Ethereum-based external token called container crypto coin (CCC) for the public market. CCC owners will get a percentage of the revenue generated on the platform in a sort of revenue-sharing model.
   Blockshipping announced it will offer the tokens in April through an initial coin offering (ICO), while it’s currently holding a pre-sale for the tokens for those who have read the Blockshipping ICO white paper describing the GSCP, the CCC token and the ICO in its entirety. Interestingly, residents of China, South Korea and the United States cannot participate in the pre-sale, based on regulatory restrictions on coin offerings in those countries. But U.S. residents are allowed to participate in the public ICO sale.
   Of the tokens to be sold, 70 percent will be made available to the public, 10 percent will be sold during the pre-sale, another 10 percent will be offered to partners and advisors, 5 percent will go to the founders, and another 5 percent will be set aside as bonus tokens to those who participate in the pre-sale.
   Everyone who buys CCC tokens during the ICO will also be able to sell their coins back to the GSCP platform as part of the entity’s so-called Market Maker Fund.
   Blockshipping said it has already attracted investment from “shipping foundations and private investors,” and that major container lines have shown “immense interest” in the platform.
   The CCC ICO is not the only game in town, of course.
   Last summer, a Hong Kong-based entity called 300Cubits had its own ICO for another token, called the TEU, which is designed to underpin the container booking process to decrease shipper no-show and carrier overbooking behavior.
   More recently, another entity called CargoX held its own ICO to raise capital for a smart contract-based bill of lading solution. Smart contracts are based on blockchain technology that allow specific business events to trigger payments.
   The GSCP is meant to provide the industry with a single registry, with the tokens designed to foster “all kinds of transactions related to container handling” within the platform, Blockshipping said.
   It should be noted that industry-based ICOs are primarily designed to accomplish two things: create incentive for industry participants to transact in an electronic currency, but also to help founders raise capital.
   American Shipper wrote about the entrance of ICOs and cryptocurrency in its December 2017 cover story.