PricewaterhouseCoopers, better known as PwC, has acquired a small ownership interest in VeChain, a China-based cryptocurrency with a market valuation of $2.7 billion, on May 4. VeChain x PwCIn an official announcement, PwC Hong Kong and PwC Singapore revealed that as a part of a larger strategic partnership, the two subsidiaries of PwC bought an ownership interest in VeChain mainly to utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) network of VeChain to assist large-scale businesses. According to the PwC Hong Kong team, the company has entered discussions with the VEN team to provide trust-based services on the VeChain platform. The statement of the company noted that VeChain tokens, also known as VEN, are needed to access and perform transactions on the VeChain network, implying that PwC has bought ownership interest in VEN to actually utilize VEN in collaboration with large conglomerates and corporations. Raymund Chao, the chairman of PwC Asia Pacific and Greater China, said:”We are glad to establish a deeper relationship with VeChain, which aims to build a trusted and distributed business ecosystem to help address long-standing challenges in supply chain management, food trust and anti-counterfeiting areas. VeChain’s mission aligns with PwC’s purpose of solving important problems and building trust in society.”Chao emphasized that the strategic collaboration with VeChain marks the first real initiative of PwC to extensively utilize blockchain technology to provide innovative professional services. As one of the big four auditors and accounting firms in the world alongside Deloitte, PwC’s business model revolves around its professional services which it provides to large-scale firms and organizations. In March, as CCN reported, PwC said that the company will begin offering blockchain auditing services to allow corporations to utilize the blockchain to record transactions and process information in a decentralized manner. At the time, the PwC team did not offer additional details into the blockchain technology the company intends to use to assist major companies. The formation of a strategic partnership between PwC and VeChain, and the acquisition of ownership interest in VeChain of PwC signifies the company’s willingness to utilize public blockchain protocols and networks that are already widely adopted by the blockchain sector, rather than build its own blockchain technology and permissioned ledger. Price Trend of VENThe price of VEN has not moved over the past 24 hours, possibly because of the partnership between VEN and PwC were finalized confidentially and only formally released in the past few hours. Over the past few months, the price of VEN has more than doubled from $2.5 to $5.18, and the acquisition of VEN by institutional investors and large conglomerates like PwC is expected to push the price of VEN further. More importantly, the involvement of PwC in the long-term growth of VEN could lead to extensive utilization of VEN as a major IoT blockchain protocol and token. Already, VEN is the 15th largest cryptocurrency in the global market. Featured image from Shutterstock