Blockchains cut the cost of international trade

The UK government has introduced a law to digitise bills of lading in order to cut shipping costs and improve the efficiency of importing and exporting goods. Large companies, such as Maersk, and forward-facing countries are also accelerating the development of tools to create a new age of efficient international trade.

The inefficiency of paper documents in international trade

The UK is the sixth largest economy in the world, with annual global trade worth about £1.266 trillion. Yet until recently, UK global trade relied mostly on paper documents to handle critical aspects of the supply chain, leading to significant inefficiencies and wastage of time at the ports. In the UK, trade documents are still regulated by the Bills of Exchange Act of 1882 and currently the UK ( similar to many other countries) still relies on paper-based processes, procedures and documents, resulting in tons of paper that become worthless after a single use, furthermore increasing the country’s carbon footprint…