News / Low take-up forces shipping cryptocurrency teu token out of circulation

300cubits co-founder Johnson Leung

Hong Kong-based start-up 300cubits will suspend its container shipping cryptocurrency tomorrow, as the industry enters “crunch time” for freight-tech.

In 2017, the firm set out to solve container shipping’s “booking shortfall”, a $23bn problem created by five million teu of ‘no show’ and ‘rolled’ cargo every year.

By introducing a booking deposit in the form of the teu token, a cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain network, 300cubits hoped to help eliminate the industry’s “trust issue”.

Trial shipments began in March 2018, but Johnson ...