Toyota to Experiment With Blockchain Use Cases by Sponsoring Astar Network's Hackathon

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Automotive giant Toyota is delving deeper into the use cases of blockchain technology by sponsoring a Web3 hackathon on multi-chain smart contract network Astar Network, which could potentially yield management tools for Toyota’s employees.

Developers will build an intracompany decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) support tool on the Astar Network – one of the first parachains to come to the Polkadot ecosystem – which will allow more efficient business decision-making and team management for Toyota. “During the event we aim to develop the first proof-of-concept DAO tool for Toyota’s employees,” said Sota Watanabe, the founder of Astar Network, in a statement.

“If a good tool is produced, Toyota employees will interact daily with Astar Network,” he added, noting that while this is an exploratory stage, blockchain technology in cars are possible in the future.

Keeping with the Web3 utilization theme, the hackathon will take place in COSMIZE Event Hall, the first metaverse on the Astar Network.

This isn’t the first time Astar – which allows developers to build interoperable decentralized applications (dapps) – is collaborating with a large Japanese company. In November, NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest mobile phone network, said it will collaborate with Astar Foundation and Accenture to speed up its Web3 adoption. In December, Astar was also awarded “Product of the Year” by Japan Blockchain Association.

Astar Network has about $42 million in total value locked (TVL), with nearly $17 million, or 40%, of TVL on decentralized exchange platform ArthDex, according to DefiLlama data. ASTR, the native token of the network, rose about 50% this year and has a market cap of $234.5 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

Toyota has been experimenting with blockchain technology for a while. In 2020, the auto giant revealed it’s exploring blockchain applications for the auto industry through a group composed of several subsidiaries.

Since then the automaker hasn’t made any big moves into the technology, despite other corporate giants jumping into non-fungible token projects, crypto payments and metaverse integrations during the hype cycle of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.

Sponsoring the hackathon would mark a more significant step for Toyota’s experiment with blockchain technology and potential Web3 integration. “Toyota is looking to Web3 to support its vision of improving the company’s operations, and this online hackathon is an initial step in the process,” according to the statement.

The move comes as Japan’s Web3 policy has been given a jump-start this year by politicians eager to do away with red tape and a customarily slow decision-making process. A Web3 policy office now exists under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). In November, the country’s digital ministry announced it would create a DAO to explore Web3 technology.