The global trade finance gap, estimated at more than $2.5 trillion, continues to hinder businesses seeking capital to move goods across international borders. Traditional processes that rely on extensive paperwork, fragmented databases, and expensive intermediaries have made it especially difficult for smaller players to access funding.
In response, IOTA is seeking to address these structural inefficiencies by building digital public infrastructure centered on transparency, real-time data sharing, and automation. The initiative represents an attempt to create a more inclusive financial framework capable of unlocking capital for underserved participants in global trade.
Collaboration with Salus in critical minerals sector
IOTA’s latest move involves a partnership with Salus, a platform designed to modernize trade finance in the critical minerals market. Salus integrates with IOTA’s TWIN platform, which combines tokenization, digital identity, and data sovereignty to create interoperable and verifiable trade workflows.
The critical minerals market, which includes copper, lithium, and rare earths, has seen sharp price increases driven by demand for clean energy technologies and artificial intelligence development. Despite the high valuations, financing flows in the sector remain fragmented and slow. Large banks have scaled back exposure, while smaller funders hesitate due to trust and authentication issues.
Salus intends to bridge these financing gaps by digitalizing supply chain data and turning it into verifiable, auditable assets. Real-time monitoring enables funders to confirm shipments directly, while tokenization transforms key trade documents such as warehouse receipts into NFTs stored securely on the IOTA ledger. These tokenized assets can be exchanged between miners, forwarders, insurers, and customs officials, ensuring transparency across all stakeholders.
Compliance, liquidity, and efficiency gains
Salus also aligns its systems with international frameworks such as the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR), which helps harmonize compliance requirements across jurisdictions. This approach is expected to accelerate cross-border processes and improve efficiency.
Need to hear more about how IOTA × @salusplatform are transforming trade by bringing live, asset-backed yields on-chain, starting with critical minerals? Join us tomorrow, Sept 11th at 4PM CEST.
Hear it first from @rilett_jam13184 and @DomSchiener ⤵️https://t.co/KmqvTSpsIS pic.twitter.com/TUx1NfJozd— IOTA (@iota) September 10, 2025
Building trust with decentralized identity
Trust in counterparties remains one of the most critical aspects of global trade. Salus employs IOTA Identity, a system within the TWIN platform that assigns decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials to stakeholders such as companies, transporters, containers, and logistics operators. Each identity is permanently recorded on the IOTA ledger, establishing an immutable trust layer that allows participants to verify integrity beyond borders.
Through this mechanism, Salus is aiming to instill confidence among funders and trade partners, enabling capital to flow more freely into sectors that previously faced skepticism from traditional financiers.
Smart contracts for automated settlements
In addition, Salus uses IOTA Smart Contracts to introduce automated payment mechanisms. For instance, payments can be triggered immediately after inspection or quality assurance checks are completed. By automating settlement, the process eliminates unnecessary intermediaries, reduces delays, and lowers operational costs.
Toward inclusive trade finance
The collaboration between IOTA and Salus reflects a broader effort to transform global trade finance through digitization, tokenization, and decentralized infrastructure. By modernizing data handling, building trust with digital identities, and introducing new funding channels, the initiative aims to make trade finance more efficient and accessible.
As the gap in financing continues to constrain global supply chains, the success of such innovations will be closely watched to determine whether blockchain-based solutions can deliver sustainable impact in one of the most capital-intensive sectors of the global economy.
