Transoil International, Solaris Commodities conduct blockchain pilot for Black Sea wheat

Transoil International and Solaris Commodities have conducted a blockchain pilot transaction of Black Sea wheat, S&P Global reported.

The pilot used the blockchain-based agri-commodities trading and financing platform of Cerealia, a Switzerland-based startup.

“Solaris Commodities SA has sold 25 000 mt of Russian milling wheat for December shipment on FOB Novorossiysk, Russia to Trans-Oil International SA,” Cerealia CEO and co-founder Andrei Grigorov said in a blog post.

It marked the first such blockchain-based deal of Black Sea wheat. The monetary terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

By leveraging blockchain technology, the companies sought to minimize risk and any conflict that may arise as the technology could help settle disputes smoothly. While details of a contract loaded on the blockchain such as price and loading rates are not visible to the public, one can see such a trade has taken place and its contract terms are uploaded onto the system in an encrypted format.

"An independent auditor has reviewed all the important details of the trade from the blockchain and validated the smart contract, digital signatures, signed document and timestamps. He also confirmed that data has been encrypted, that no other data has been stored and that all data is up to date," Cerealia, a start-up based Lausanne, Switzerland, said in a press release.

Grigorov said that the next stage will involve supporting emerging market traders in their local domestic currencies using fintech.

Founded in 2017, Cerealia is a marketplace for grain trading, financing and tokenization. Last month, the company announced that the minimum viable product of its platform was complete.

“Our MVP enables to simulate the conclusion of a physical grain trade C&F contract as well as all stages of the execution flow,” Cerealia said. The company expects to release the working 1.0 version in Q1 2019.