Operational Cost Compression in Treasury & Custody

Before: Manual paperwork, siloed data, and costly recalls due to untraceable contamination. After: An immutable ledger tracks every component from origin to shelf. Benefits:

• 70-90% reduction in administrative and dispute resolution costs.
• Real-time visibility for all parties, cutting inventory holding costs by up to 30%.
• Automated compliance with ESG and regulatory standards. Example: Walmart reduced mango traceability from 7 days to 2.2 seconds using blockchain.

Before: A 5-10 day process involving multiple banks, couriers, and manual document checks, costing 1-3% of transaction value. After: Smart contracts automate issuance, approval, and payment upon verified digital proof of shipment. Benefits:

• Process time slashed from days to hours, freeing up working capital.
• Near-elimination of fraud and discrepancy costs.
• Direct cost savings of 50-80% on processing fees. Example: Marco Polo Network reduced invoice financing time from 5-10 days to real-time.

Before: Multi-day settlement through correspondent banks, with high fees (5-7%) and opaque FX rates. After: Direct peer-to-peer settlement on a shared ledger, 24/7. Benefits:

• Transaction costs reduced to less than 1%.
• Settlement in seconds or minutes, not days, improving cash flow.
• Full transparency on fees and exchange rates. Example: J.P.Coin Systems processes billions in daily transactions, settling in seconds for a fraction of traditional cost.

Before: Fragmented PO, invoicing, and payment systems requiring manual matching and reconciliation. After: End-to-end automated procurement lifecycle triggered by IoT sensors or delivery confirmation. Benefits:

• Eliminates invoice processing and late payment disputes.
• Dynamic discounting becomes automated, improving supplier terms.
• ROI realized in 12-18 months through headcount reduction and early-payment discounts. Example: Maersk and IBM's TradeLens automates shipping logistics and payments, reducing documentation costs by up to 15%.

Eliminate costly manual tracking and dispute resolution in multi-party supply chains. Immutable ledgers provide a single source of truth for product origin, custody, and condition, automating compliance reporting.

• Example: Walmart uses blockchain to track leafy greens, reducing trace-back time from 7 days to 2.2 seconds.
• ROI Driver: Cuts administrative overhead, reduces fraud, and minimizes costly recalls.

Streamline a paper-intensive, slow process prone to fraud. Smart contracts automate document verification, payment triggers, and compliance checks upon shipment receipt.

• Example: Marco Polo Network (TradeIX, R3) enables real-time, risk-mitigated trade finance, reducing processing time from 5-10 days to under 24 hours.
• ROI Driver: Drastically reduces processing costs, accelerates cash flow, and lowers fraud-related losses.

Bypass correspondent banking networks to reduce fees and settlement times from days to minutes. Digital asset rails enable direct, peer-to-peer value transfer with transparent fees.

• Example: J.P. Morgan's JPM Coin facilitates instantaneous settlement between institutional clients, operating 24/7.
• ROI Driver: Slashes transaction fees (often by 40-80%), reduces capital trapped in transit, and improves treasury efficiency.

Shift from repetitive, firm-level KYC checks to a reusable, user-controlled verifiable credential model. Individuals own and permission their verified identity data.

• Example: The Sovrin Network provides a decentralized framework for self-sovereign identity, allowing banks to reduce per-customer onboarding costs.
• ROI Driver: Cuts compliance onboarding costs by up to 90%, accelerates customer acquisition, and reduces regulatory risk.

Unlock liquidity in illiquid assets (real estate, private equity, art) by representing them as digital tokens on a blockchain. This automates ownership records, dividend distributions, and compliance.

• Example: RealT tokenizes U.S. real estate, enabling fractional investment and automating rental income distribution to token holders.
• ROI Driver: Creates new revenue streams, reduces costs of asset management and transfer, and expands the investor base.

Automate the entire procurement lifecycle—from PO to payment—on a shared ledger. Smart contracts enforce terms, trigger payments upon delivery verification, and maintain an immutable audit trail.

• Example: Baseline Protocol uses zero-knowledge proofs to synchronize enterprise systems (like ERP) privately, automating complex multi-party processes.
• ROI Driver: Reduces processing costs, eliminates invoice disputes, and provides real-time visibility into spend and commitments.