Halotrade is a blockchain-based trade finance solution that addresses a perennial challenge in international trade: bridging the financial gap between product creation and eventual monetization. For example, smallholder farmers harvesting crops today often need immediate payment, but buyers may only realise the product’s value months later. Trade finance exists to fill this gap, enabling transactions where the payment timeline is otherwise misaligned.

As part of an industry-wide initiative to bring procurement and trade finance onto the blockchain, Halotrade sought to create a smart contract system that could facilitate transparent, immutable, and live trade agreements. This effort would ensure better financing terms for smallholders, improve transparency for all parties, and align competing interests in a complex supply chain.

Daedalus approached Halotrade’s challenges by leveraging our expertise in trade finance, blockchain technology, project management and product delivery. Our process included:

• Defining Real Objectives: Collaborating with Halotrade and its stakeholders to identify the specific requirements for the smart contract system and its role within the larger trade ecosystem.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Engaging key parties to ensure buy-in and agreement on roles, timelines, and expectations. This included clarifying responsibilities for each stage of the development process.
• Strategic Planning: Developing a high-level architecture for the PoC, aligning it with an MVP approach to ensure feasibility and scalability.
• Project Management: Managing budgets, timelines, and inter-party communications, ensuring transparency and progress tracking.

Documentation and Handover: Producing detailed documentation of the PoC and providing a roadmap for MVP development and future scaling.