Flagship product
Trade Settlement Desk
Documents and funds held in one contract and released in one event. The buyer never has to pay before verifying. The seller never has to hand over paper that could be reused. Settlement takes minutes, not weeks.
How it works
How a deal moves through the platform
Five steps, in the language you already use.
Onboard once
Both sides clear know your customer and anti money laundering checks a single time. Every cargo after this one skips the step.
Seller deposits
Proof of product, tank receipt, inspection certificate and title go into the contract. Hashed, so they can be verified but never copied.
Buyer deposits
Payment goes into escrow inside the same contract. The seller sees it is committed. Neither side can touch it.
Conditions checked
Quantity, quality, laycan and inspection outcome. Our AI layer verifies documents and screens both parties against sanctions and watchlists.
Simultaneous release
Documents transfer to the buyer and funds release to the seller in the same event. One cannot happen without the other.
The difference
What it replaces
The letter of credit or standby
Not required. The contract holds the credit.
Bank issuance fees of 0.5 to 1.5 percent
One transparent platform fee, at or below it.
Three day wires and separate reconciliation
Settlement and reconciliation in the same event.
Trusting an unfamiliar counterparty
Removed at the mechanism, not insured around.
An inspection report held inside the contract cannot be walked to a higher bidder, because the seller’s access to the money and the buyer’s access to the documents are the same event. There is no window in which one party holds everything and the other holds nothing.
Who it is for
Built for the mid market the majors left out
Blockchain has already been applied to commodity trade. Komgo and Vakt both launched in 2018, built by consortiums of the majors to reduce friction between the majors. If you are not already inside that circle, you do not get a seat at the table.
Nearly a decade on, the Asian Development Bank still puts the global trade finance gap at USD 2.5 trillion and reports it has not narrowed since 2023.
We serve
Independent trading houses, and buyers and sellers of crude, refined products, petroleum derivatives, foodstuffs and precious metals.
Counterparties settling cargoes through Fujairah, Rotterdam, Singapore and Houston, and regional corridors a bank finds too small or too complicated to bother with.
The first cargo is free
The trial is the sales pitch. No presentation does the same work as watching your own cargo settle with nobody exposed.
Stefan De MotteOperating Partner
sdemotte@chainlockr.com