Mongolian cashmere herders are using blockchain technology developed by Convergence. Cashmere is naturally scarce, and its quality and quantity are limited by climate and geography. Herders face income instability and uncertainty and are often indebted to intermediaries for cash advances. There’s a lack of agreement on sustainability and chain of custody processes. Grazing lands are rapidly degrading, threatening the viability of the entire industry.
The process connects buyers interested in sustainability with sellers who follow sustainable practices. The traceability of cashmere is transparent from the herder, all the way through to the end consumer as a result of utilizing blockchain technology. The project has been an enormous success with significant quantities of cashmere getting tracked across three provinces in north-eastern Mongolia, from origin, shearing at herder households, to destination, a processing facility in Ulaanbaatar. Leveraging blockchain technology within the transformation of the cashmere industry can provide numerous benefits for Mongolian herders, buyers, and sellers alike and allow farmers to track their cashmere. Along with this, bales and packing slips get high-frequency RFID tags attached to them. This technology helps mitigate risks by eradicating the traditional manual processes that were time-consuming and prone to human error.
Based in Canada, Convergence provides comprehensive advisory and product development services, with a primary focus on blockchain technology. It operates globally with active projects in 14 different cities worldwide.
