One year on from its launch TradeAssets, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first blockchain-powered e-marketplace for trade finance assets, went live earlier this month with 25 participant banks.

TradeAssets is a Hyperledger Fabric-based auction platform backed by Dubai-based start-up Fintech Innovations International, which reports that the first transaction was completed on February 6. It adds that the onboarded banks have now posted trade finance assets worth millions of US dollars.

The online marketplace “aims to put an end to banks’ current extremely inefficient process of buying and selling trade finance assets.” It was originally launched a year by two senior banking professionals with the aim of creating a blockchain powered e-marketplace to help banks optimise trade finance risk.

“TradeAssets will help create a brand-new global ecosystem of secondary and primary financial institutions, development banks and commodity traders, securely connected 24/7, conducting, buying and selling of trade finance assets and other similar products,” the company stated last February.

Founder chairman and CEO, Lakshmanan Sankaran, formerly head of trade finance for nearly 14 years at Commercial Bank of Dubai added at the time: “UAE is one the world’s largest trading hubs and Dubai being the fore runner in innovation, technology and possibly the world’s blockchain capital it makes perfect sense for Fintech Innovations International to launch TradeAssets in Dubai’. 

The new online marketplace describes its remit as to:

• Create a secure electronic trade finance marketplace for banks.
• Use automation and functionality to digitise and improve a very manual process.
• Build an ecosystem where participants manage risk efficiently and increase profitability.