(5 March 2026 – Global) Geopolitics is increasingly volatile yet some of the most important developments in trade are not political but in fact digital, seeking to ensure that companies know who, or what, they are really doing business with.
The global trade and supply chain ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation. Each day, billions of documents are exchanged across industries and borders, yet much of this communication still relies on outdated formats such as paper and PDF. These formats lack the interoperability, security, and legal certainty needed in today’s complex and fast-moving trade environment.
T3i Partner Network’s Daniel Cotti and Michael Vrontamitis tell Financial World that there are new approaches to a zero-trust digital architecture in trade that aim to break through the siloed nature of blockchain projects devised to enable trust across a decentralised network.
In theory, it does away with the need for an intermediary like a bank as all transactions are immutably recorded on the ledger. The International Secure Trade Transfer Protocol (ISTTP) P2P messaging system launched by the Verifiable Trade Foundation enables firms to “connect once, connect everywhere” without a central database or a distributed ledger.
“There are a lot of discussions around how to do finance in a more digital way. A core part of that is digital identity because as a lender you want to know who you’re lending to, not just the company registration number, but is the person on the other side really authorised and empowered to represent the company?” commented T3i Partner Network Founding Partner, Michael Vrontamitis.
“The “fundamental due diligence is about whether you know that the person who signed that document has the authority to do so and within what limits. Whether it will stand up in a court of law.”
“GLEIF, the NFP that was set up following the GFC to give businesses one legal identity worldwide and the legal entity identifier (LEI) have not scaled as many originally hoped. One practical challenge is that LEIs require annual renewal, and a meaningful proportion lapse over time as there is a cost to issue and renew them” stated T3i Partner Network Founding Partner and former board member at GLEIF, Daniel Cotti.
“The launch of VTF represents a major leap toward a fully digital and borderless trade environment. By creating a robust and universal protocol, we are shaping the future of trade to be more inclusive, efficient, and resilient. We invite the international trade community to explore our mission and join the next era of global connectivity. The overall aim is a zero-trust architecture that assumes nothing and verifies everything” said Verifiable Trade Foundation Chair Stephan Wolf.