The Seam Chairman and CEO Mark Pryor was interviewed for a May 11, 2017, story on Venture Nashville, the full text of which is available via this link. Below are a few portions of the Chairman’s comments in that story, summarized by The Seam.
The Seam, the Memphis-based creator of agribusiness software and trading and settlement solutions, has created The Seam Blockchain LLC startup. The Seam Chairman and CEO, Mark Pryor, said the company is “actively in discussions” with “powerful tech companies and [ag-commodity] businesses” globally about its plans to extend its offerings beyond [its] long-standing global cotton and peanuts customer bases, to serve players in cocoa, coffee and other sectors, as well.
The Seam and its Blockchain unit aim to quickly move well beyond proof-of-concept work with Blockchain. Asked about the possible extent of its future supply-chain innovations, Pryor indicated that he sees a broad array of use-cases and opportunities, adding that cotton has a presence “from field to fabric” and peanuts have life “from seed to shelf.”
Pryor said the new wholly owned subsidiary is essential to pursuit of the company’s Blockchain-centric agenda, and will allow the company to achieve “the network effect” of global industry participation that it needs.
He explained, “we have worked closely with IBM and the Hyperledger Fabric since January, but are also increasingly working with Ethereum, while reviewing Corda, in parallel. These Blockchain technologies will soon be interoperable, which make it very important for us to have a solid understanding and experience for bridging cross-industry transactions,” in which, for example, banking might prefer Corda, while agribusiness might align with Ethereum or Fabric.
“I think Blockchain is absolutely revolutionary,” said Pryor. He noted that the challenge of widespread Blockchain adoption “is not so much about technology as about research and education” that help people understand the significance of “working with a system of transactions that are immutable, irrefutable.”