Developing countries face challenges realizing the massive benefits of paperless-trade, due to the high price tag of software and expertise. This must change, or society will undergo an undesirable one.
The global financial commerce system is headed in a new and exciting direction, away from the antiquated and inefficient, not to mention expensive use of the current paper-commerce model. As in most cases, this unjustly affects mainly developing countries. Fortunately, or by innovative and planned design, an organization by the name of TradeTrust is on hand with a solution, in fact, they’ve been leading the way in this area for some time now, 30 years to be precise. That’s 30 years of thought, leadership and blockchain design, with a team of 15 highly trained expert blockchain engineers.
The current and somewhat hindering problem to full on success is that up until now, this open-source framework has been running on the Ethereum blockchain, which is unfortunately famed for its expensive transaction fees and at times inefficient level of service.
TradeTrust Introduces its Innovative Project
The objective is to provide a fully free, out-of- the-box solution. One which will thankfully run on Cardano and Atala PRISM, supplied to governments around the world, as well as granting them access to the Tradetrust platform, ecosystem and services alike.
What is TradeTrust?
This platform is in essence an open-source framework which solves the problem of paper-based trade, mainly with customs. Offering paperless commerce, which as previously mentioned, currently uses the Ethereum blockchain for its services. It handles over 10 million shipping transactions a year and is utilised by over 600 ports and terminals worldwide, an almost mind blowing amount. However, as we enter a new era in third generation blockchain technology, i.e. Cardano’s, the logical step is to transition to a more efficient and cost effective platform, benefiting all involved and improving the lives of those who deserve it most.
What are the Primary Components of TradeTrust?
Ecosystem: The foundation of TradeLens rests in its business network – shippers, freight forwarders, ports and terminals, ocean carriers, intermodal operators, government authorities, customs brokers, and more. They share information across the platform throughout a shipment’s journey, which is a complex task, requiring a highly skilled and intelligent workforce.
Platform: The platform is accessible via an open API and brings together the ecosystem through a set of open standards. Powered by blockchain technology and IBM Cloud, the platform enables the industry to share information and collaborate securely.
Applications and Services: An open marketplace with applications and services allows both TradeLens and third parties to publish ‘fit-for-purpose’ services atop the TradeLens platform, fostering supply chain innovation and value creation.
The TradeLens ecosystem is composed of over 100 diverse organizations, with more than 10 million shipping events being registered every week, this includes 55 ports and terminals which willingly push their data to TradeLens, an indication of both trust, along with a desire for their own operational success. With almost a dozen customs authorities being engaged to improve visibility, security and the full automation of customs clearance. Again,as previously stated, data from over 600 ports and terminals are captured and tracked by existing TradeLens members, an impressive display of logistical prowess and expertise on their part.
What are the Benefits of Transitioning from Ethereum to Cardano?
Primarily, we can offer if not guarantee increased efficiency. Given paper-based trade’s massive inefficiency due to the nature of having to process paper documents, which often take longer than the actual movement of the goods themselves. Governments and organizations will also benefit greatly from reduced costs, as processing often accounts for more than 1/5 the price of the actual trade itself. Another benefit is that with bodies such as Regulatory Compliance Regulations, who originate out of organizations such as UNCITRAL and UN/CEFECT now endorsing if not mandating the use of digital trade documents, the future’s looking both bright and paperless.
We Have a Real Opportunity for Change Here.
TradeTrust is on a pathway to paperless trade, and is used by over 100 governments and organizations. While broadly adopted, the TradeTrust platform suffered from limitations stemming from its dependency on the Ethereum blockchain. TradeTrust has welcomed our proposal to migrate the platform to Cardano Plutus smart contracts. Their technical and business team will provide unwavering support during the migration.
Access– We can work with 100 governments and organisations and over 600 ports.
Reputation – Governments will have the first implementation of Cardano and can attest to its superior performance and lower cost.
Reach Decision Makers – Experienced trade expert Jonothan Koh will be onsite to educate the decision-makers on the advantages of Cardano on other government projects. What’s more, Cardano will be represented on an international scale, to countless trade organisations and ports.
Meet the Team Behind the Mission
Jonathan has over 30 years of experience in providing solutions in the trade arena. Jonathan has hands-on experience in over 40 digital trade/customs/trade facilitation programs globally. He is an expert in trade platforms commonly termed as “single window” which is one of the principal trade facilitation instruments advocated in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, which is in force and ratified by over 170 countries. Jonathan served as the Project Director for the many customs/trade facilitation implementation projects including Kenya, Qatar, and Oman. He was heavily involved in consulting, serving as lead consultant to the Government of Hong Kong SAR for their next-generation Electronic Trade system. He was the lead consultant to the Government of Greece and helped to develop their National Trade Facilitation Strategy and Roadmap. He also led technical assistance/feasibility studies in many countries. He served as an expert resource for ASEAN Economic Community and helped to develop the ASEAN’s Seamless Trade Facilitation Indicators.
Jonathan has also served as an expert resource to various international organisations in trade facilitation and policy issues. He was a visiting scholar with the International Monetary Fund, served as a member of the International Advisory Committee for the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT).
Tim has 20 years experience building mission critical applications while working for Raytheon, Citi Group, Deutsche Bank, Bank of Tokyo, Danske Bank, Philips Health, Cerner Health, Norwegian Air Continental Airlines and most recently Google. Tim has worked with Cardano technology since 2019 and is a member of the Atala PRISM Pioneers program. Recently Tim’s primary focus is making the power of the blockchain available to everyone. Tim has 6 years of blockchain development and runs a blockchain development company with over 15 employers. Tim is a member of Singularity University.
Craig is internationally known as an expert in international payments. As the former CTO of SWIFT and the current CTO of Diem Association, Craig has worked tirelessly to make cross-border payments a reality. Craig honed deep technical knowledge, giving me a unique perspective as I’ve progressed to senior leadership positions. I’ve served in VP and C-suite roles at global telecommunications and financial services institutions including SWIFT and Verizon, running technology, product development, engineering, and cybersecurity operations.
Gerhard Eschelbeck (Advisor)
Widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on network and system security, Gerhard was invited to present his research in information security to the U.S. Congress, and he is also a frequent speaker at major industry conferences.
He was named one of InfoWorld’s 25 Most Influential CTO’s in 2003, 2004, and received this honor a third time in 2006. Gerhard is a frequent contributor to the SANS Top 20 experts consensus, identifying the most critical security vulnerabilities. Gerhard is also a highly regarded author and is perhaps best known for publishing the “Laws of Vulnerabilities.” He is one of the inventors of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and holds numerous patents in the field of managed network security.
What are the KPIs for the Project?
- Proposing commercial approach and negotiation strategies with different governments – This project will see Cardano being an influential technology and business player in the TradeTrust platform, used by numerous governments around the globe.
- Diversity of Dapp’s use cases
- Proposers commercial approach and negotiation strategy with different governments – We will work within the TradeTrust organization to advise governments and showcase the advantages of Cardano.
- Participation and/or partnerships with other international organizations – We will work with TradeTrust and engage 100 diverse organizations.
- The number of countries covered, contracts signed – The 13 countries that currently use TradeTrust.
- The number of Dapp users, registry accounts, transaction volumes – Over 10 million shipping events are registered every week. Adoption of our platform would include these transactions.
- Proposers lead time on field research, Dapp development, and implementation
- Governments estimated lead time dependencies on red tape – TradeTrust is an out-of-box solution to paperless trade that can reduce the lead time of digitizing trade from years to just weeks.
- Dapps impact on social/financial inclusion – Phase one of the projects prepare the way for phase two, that will reduce the middleman costs of hiring import/export specialists and allow the small landholder farmer to sell across the border using more automated document processing.
What Does Success Look Like?
In 3 Months – We will have completed the analyst and made the six documents below available on a public drive and will have posted the location to the catalyst_news channel of the Cardano Project Catalyst discord server.
1)Project Initiation and Planning Document High Res UX Design Document
2)Project Setup – automated testing repositories
3)High-level architecture Document
4)Low-level Architecture Document
5)Testing Plan
6)Deployment Plan
In 6 Months – We will have finished integrating Cardano with TradeTrust and have a demo online of TradeTrust running on Cardano. Directions on how to install TradeTrust with Cardano will be available in our public GitHub repositories. News items on prominent trade journals will be published that describe the Cardano+TradeTrust product and describe its advantages. A link to our public GitHub repositories, all journal articles, and the running demo app will be posted on the catalyst_news channel of the Cardano Project Catalyst discord server.
In 12 Months – Testing will be completed and three existing governments that incorporate TradeTrust will be onboarded to the Cardano implementation of TradeTrust. The governments of Ghana and Kenya will be either completely onboarded or undergoing trials. Joint papers will be issued by TradeTrust and Cardano on methods for countries to migrate to paperless trade. We will have commenced phase two of the project to implement automation in paperless trade to facilitate cross-border farmer-to-market
Full Scale Project Plan
The project will be divided into two stages of migration and improvements. The requested budget is for phase one only.
Phase I (Migration To Cardano and Atala PRISM)
Technical Goals Migrate the TradeTrust Platform from Ethereum to use Cardano and Atala PRISM. Integrate TradeTrust with one B2B, B2G, or G2G SCM platform in Africa.
Business Development Goals (i) Expand the adoption of TradeTrust in Africa and the Middle East. (ii) See the adoption of the TradeTrust platform with one B2B, B2G, or G2G SCM platform in Africa.
Phase II ( Improve and Extend the TradeTrust platform): Automation of document processes, single window, adoption in Africa.
P H A S E I – P R O J E C T P L A N & B U D G E T B R E A K D O W N
Milestone One
Project Initiation Phase ( 6 weeks)
List of Deliverables
1)Project Initiation and Planning Document
2)High Res UX Design Document
3)Project Setup – automated testing repositories
4)High-level architecture Document
5)Low-Level Architecture Document
6)Testing Plan
7)Deployment Plan
Human Resources
- 1 Architect Sr Engineer
- 1 Sr. Engineer
- 1 UX Designer
- 1 Test Lead
- 1 Technical Writer
Total Cost for Milestone One _________________________________$28,000 USD
Milestone Two
Project Development Phase ( 8 weeks)
List of Technical Deliverables
1)Document Store – create/update/delete
2)Signing
3)Document Process Flow
4)Configuring DNS – support for existing features
5)Support for NFT – support for existing features
6)Document viewer
7)Title Escrow ( joint ownership)
8)GNS Capability
9)Testing – unit tests
10)SDK (JavaScript/Kotlin)
11)Documentation – document dev ops and code
Human Resources
- Architect
- Sr Blockchain Engineer
- Sr Blockchain Engineer 2
- Jr Blockchain Engineer
- Atala PRISM Engineer
- Front End Engineer
- UX Designer
- Test Lead
- Technical Writer
Cost for Milestone Two _________________________________________$88,960 USD
Milestone Three
- TradeTrust Community Introductions
- TradeTrust Community Education
- Prepare and Deliver Presentation For Kenya Government
- Prepare and Deliver Presentation to Ghana Government
- Prepare Deck decks and collateral to present to trade conferences
- Fees for 3 Trade Conferences
Total Cost for Milestone Three __________________________________$30,000 USD
T O T A L C O S T P H A S E I ___________________________________$146,960 USD
Public launch date February 1st 2022.
Proposers
A global transition of this magnitude will not only alert the harnessing power of Cardano to world governments, but also to the rest and best of the world’s investors. The shift away from the previously semi-dominant Ethereum will send shockwaves throughout the system, changing lives as it powers forward, for the greater good, as was always the intention of IOHK and Charles himself. However, one thing is an absolute certainty, the value of blockchain technology is inescapable.
If you’d like to know more information or have questions/comments regarding the Smart Catalyst proposal, check out the link. Log in Project Catalyst (Ideascale.com) here
