Volvo Group, the Swedish industrial conglomerate behind one of the world’s largest truck manufacturing operations, is going deeper into blockchain than most legacy manufacturers have dared. Ivan Branco, who leads Information Management, AI, and Analytics for Volvo Group Trucks Operations Belgium, sat down with the Cardano Foundation to outline how the company is using shared ledgers to untangle the mess that is modern supply chain management.
The most eyebrow-raising detail: Volvo is testing a proprietary cryptocurrency designed to handle payments within its enclosed supplier ecosystem.
What Volvo is actually building
Branco’s pitch is straightforward. A shared, verifiable ledger can solve trust problems that currently plague these multi-party interactions. Instead of each player maintaining their own records and then spending weeks reconciling discrepancies, everyone works from the same source of truth.
The proprietary cryptocurrency component targets a specific pain point: payments and order ledgers across material suppliers and transport providers. Rather than routing money through traditional banking rails with their settlement delays and intermediary fees, Volvo envisions a token that moves value instantly within its supplier network.
