Blockchain holds considerable promise, but all too often it fails to find sustainable use cases. Trade finance is one significant exception. This traditional revenue source for banks is ready for disruption. A whole new approach, informed by blockchain logic, could bring the very transformation an established yet restricted business is crying out for. Placing the end-to-end trade finance process on a new platform would have a very clear objective: to offer all exporters and importers fast and easy access to credit issuance and advisory services.

This is a radical shift but it is within reach. An open, automated, and transparent trade finance platform, which replaces cumbersome trust mechanisms with automatic checks and assurances, is a technical possibility right now.

Barring certain technical and legal challenges, a product vision for blockchain as a disruptive force in trade finance is described and validated, awaiting adoption by a consortium of industry players willing to pilot a solution.