Volvo Group just quietly did something most Fortune 500 companies only talk about at conferences. The company built its own cryptocurrency.
Disclosed on July 15 during a Cardano Foundation interview, Volvo’s proprietary token is designed to facilitate payments and shared order ledgers between material suppliers and transport providers in Belgium. Ivan Branco, who oversees information management, AI, and analytics for Volvo’s logistics operations in Belgium, walked through the project’s mechanics and goals.
The token isn’t headed to Coinbase. It’s not launching on Uniswap. It exists inside a closed ecosystem, purpose-built to simplify the tangled web of multi-party transactions that define modern supply chains.
From cobalt tracing to custom coins
Volvo isn’t new to blockchain. The company has been experimenting with distributed ledger technology since at least 2019, primarily through traceability projects focused on ethical sourcing of battery materials like cobalt. Those earlier efforts were more about tracking where stuff came from than actually paying for it.
