TradeTech UAE will be launching a global Blockchain platform for commodity trading in Q2 of 2020. UNLOCK interviewed Mr. Dheeraj Khandelwal, an investor and promoter of TradeTech. Dheeraj, a charter accountant with over 20 years’ experience is also an experience trader of industrial commodities.
Over the years Dheeraj noticed that there were many issues in the commodity trading sector that could be overcome with the use of Blockchain, and with this in mind he along with a team with expertise in bulk commodity trading globally, trading of commodities like minerals, metals, energy related products. (coal, iron ore, manganese ore, limestone, gypsum, copper and salt etc.) conceptualized a platform that would solve many of the issues facing commodity trading.
As such, TradeTech provides solutions to all commodity traders capitalizing on the blockchain technology. This blockchain technology brings all related parties like buyers, sellers, miners, traders, shipping agencies, port authorities, banks, insurance companies, inspecting agencies, etc. all on one platform for seamless, secured and easy trading.
The TradeTech platform is currently being developed by more than 30 people based across Dubai, India, and Singapore. As Dheeraj explains, “I endeavored not to build a blockchain platform but to solve the problems of physical trade and it so happened that blockchain as a technology could resolve issues pertaining to trade finance and letters of Credit. There are millions of LCs rotating around cross border transactions daily many of them between UAE and surrounding countries including Africa.”
According to Dheeraj,“ for example most of the times there are limits on the LC whether I am an importer or a buyer. In addition when someone issues an LC the documents take time to reach the importer because it is usually sent through a carrier be it DHL or others, reaching anywhere between 15 to 20 days especially for commodities. Utilizing the blockchain saves time because you immediately receive the LC and acceptance. With Blockchain platform all the stakeholders are on the platform, the importer, exporter, banks and event governmental entities and everything is happening in real-time.”
TradeTech has set up offices in Abu Dhabi’s ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) and development of the platform is well underway utilizing Hyperledger Fabric. According to Dheeraj, the platform has different modules built in, trade finance, Logistics, and more, while testing is currently underway.
As for the partners TradeTech is currently in discussions with banks across different continents, UAE, India, Singapore, Australia, Asia and Europe. As he explains, “We are very much aware that most banks are already utilizing blockchain for trade finance and can easily integrate with our platform using APIs. Our platform should be complete by June and we will be onboarding partners including traders banks etc.. “
The platform is a cloud based on offer blockchain as a service, with affordable yearly subscription packages. Depending on the client the subscription is as low as 10,000 USD per year. TradeTech platform offers solutions for banking, shipping, and even insurance. All the TradeTech modules work together to provide all the services and functionality needed to carry out trading operations.
Dheeraj believes that utilizing blockchain platforms for global trade which is valued at about 700 trillion USD could save around 30 trillion USD. This is carried out by increasing efficiency and adding more trade over the same time while saving on interest costs.
Finally Dheeral envisions a future where online trading for commodities will be akin to Amazon retail trading.
