A defi-based model for maritime trade finance

Abstract

While trade finance has been recognized as a key element in international trade, there is a persistent gap between supply and demand. On the other hand, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has given birth to the decentralised finance (DeFi) phenomenon, promising to revolutionize banking and the whole financial sector. This paper enquires whether a DeFi-based business model could address the trade finance gap problematic. To this end, it presents a sketch of a DeFi trade finance business model, showing how it could address the reasons behind the trade finance gap, while at the same time developing a broader meaning of the DeFi concept itself