Called a crypto anchor verifier, the technology, which is part artificial-intelligence software, part insanely sophisticated, internally developed lens, can see the cells of animals and distinguish between them.

Powered by a lens capable of rendering objects as small as a single micron, the verifier is also designed to search out — and understand — the difference between a fake drug and the real deal, a cheap bottle of wine and an expensive one, and imperfections in diamonds that are undetectable to human eyes.

Perhaps even more remarkable, the verifier is designed to do all this by downloading software developed by IBM to any smartphone. A custom lens placed over the phone’s camera turns the device into a scanner with the potential to extract immense value from every layer of a supply chain.

But all that data has to be stored somewhere. And as a rising tide of blockchain companies are competing to connect global supply chains to a shared, immutable ledger, IBM fellow Donna Dillenberger thinks that’s exactly where the real potential of the crypto verifier will be unlocked.

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