Cambridge Business Association
How Blockchain Could Shape International Trade
Article

How Blockchain Could Shape International Trade

Financing the Supply Chain

Rebecca Liao
Foreign Affairs, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Visionary
  • For Experts
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

With a globalization backlash clouding international trade, a technology such as blockchain could help advance world commerce. In this succinct and edifying account, Rebecca Liao makes a good case for blockchain’s applications to trade finance and its information flows. Although Liao may not be an objective observer – her business, Skuchain, sells blockchain technology to supply chains – her forward-looking report, which getAbstract recommends, will be useful to bankers and executives involved in global trade.

Summary

Most people associate blockchain – a “distributed-ledger technology that allows for transactions to be validated without the use of a centralized database” – with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. But blockchain can serve a larger purpose by furthering global trade. Businesses are already using the technology to enable digital contracts and bookkeeping, and to do away with financial go-betweens. Companies can execute safe, immediate cross-border transactions without the need for prior mutual relationships.

While their use of blockchain could ...

About the Author

Rebecca Liao is vice president of business development and strategy at Skuchain, a firm that offers blockchain technology for supply chains.

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    S. F. 6 years ago
    How great block-chain is, but all articles are skimpy on exactly how it is implemented; why multiple servers guarantee the integrity of the data? And, it still is an after-the-fact approach requiring humans to report accurately the latest step in the workflow.