PwC, Merck, and Hashgraph Test Provenance System for Cocoa Tracking

PwC Germany, Merck KGaA, and The Hashgraph Group are testing a system to track cocoa production in Europe. This comes just months before European Union rules on limiting deforestation come into effect.

The system pairs physical markers on cocoa bags with records on the Hedera distributed ledger. It could help trace batches, support EU compliance, and enable peer-to-peer payments to farmers.

Cocoa was chosen because it has one of the most fragmented supply chains in agriculture, with data trapped in separate silos and extensive mixing at the first mile. More than 2 million African farms sell cocoa through layers of middlemen, making it nearly impossible to track the source.

The firms say the system is designed for broader use in sectors where provenance, authenticity, quality, and regulatory compliance are critical, including food, pharmaceuticals, luxury goods, electronics, and industrial components.