Blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin, is being harnessed by the more mundane world of supermarkets, pig farmers and cotton traders as a means of rooting out fraud.

Thomas Olsen, a partner with Bain & Company in Singapore, described blockchain as the catalyst to solve some of these problems through transparency and eliminating tampering.

“Large commodities companies are looking at applications for this in their internal supply chains," Olsen said, "as well as extended supply chains in China and elsewhere.”