Trade wars could spur governments to embrace Web3 — Truebit

Escalating trade wars are rattling cryptocurrency markets — but they are also creating new use cases for blockchain networks, Truebit executives told Cointelegraph. 

On April 2, President Donald Trump announced plans to charge sweeping tariffs on US imports, prompting other nations to threaten retaliatory measures. Trump later paused the tariff rollout for certain countries — but the possibility of a global trade war still looms, especially after Trump reiterated his commitment to taxing Chinese goods.

If high tariffs materialize, blockchain technology can play an important role in ensuring governments apply them fairly, according to the executives. Blockchain can “really help you prove provenance […] proving the chain of custody,” Federico Kattan, Truebit’s chief technology officer, told Cointelegraph. 

For example, a company might “assemble or do some packaging in a low-tariff country and then import into the US at 10% instead of 58%… [but] blockchain can help establish where the product actually came from,” Kattan said.

Blockchain networks can enhance supply chain transparency by recording every transaction on an immutable public ledger, greatly limiting the scope for fraud across trillions of dollars worth of imported goods.

Trump’s proposed tariffs would impact $2.4 trillion worth of imports, according to a report by the Tax Foundation. Retaliatory measures by other countries could add to that figure.

Truebit is a blockchain network specializing in helping users add trustless verification to a wide variety of applications.

It is already in talks with software vendors servicing the US government and has been working on a European Union-funded project exploring Web3’s potential role in global supply chains, the executives said.

“We’re not yet talking directly to governments, but to the software vendors trying to interface with them — because that’s where we want to be,” Jason Teutsch, Truebit’s CEO, said.

Related: Trade tensions to speed institutional crypto adoption — Execs

Truebit was launched in 2017 and launched its TRU token in 2021. The token has a fully diluted market capitalization of $20 million, according to CoinGecko.

Trade war risks

However, several other crypto executives cautioned that tariffs pose serious risks to blockchain networks’ integrity and accessibility to users.

Worsening trade wars threaten to disrupt networks’ physical infrastructure, fragment regulatory regimes, and censor users, they said.

“Aggressive tariffs and retaliatory trade policies could create obstacles for node operators, validators, and other core participants in blockchain networks,” Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, CEO of Concrete & Glow Finance, told Cointelegraph.

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