Arqit: Consortium delivers world’s first cross-border quantum-secure digital trade transaction
June 15 2023 - 1:00AM
An international consortium of industry and technical experts,
supported by government, business and other organisations have
completed the world’s first quantum-secure cross-border electronic
trade document transaction, delivering a verifiable, secure, and
legally recognisable solution for future digital trade
transactions. This significant step forward in the journey to fully
digital international trade will make international trade cheaper,
simpler, faster and more sustainable.
The successful pilot, orchestrated by the
International Chamber of Commerce UK and Centre for Digital Trade
and Innovation (C4DTI) on behalf of the UK Government, and
supported by the Singapore Government agency the Infocomm Media
Development Authority (IMDA), saw sample building products
transported from the United Kingdom to Singapore using traditional
paper documentation, but also electronic trade documents, including
an electronic bill of lading (eBL) and a digital promissory note,
simultaneously reconciled using a Distributed Ledger (DLT) in both
jurisdictions.
IMDA’s TradeTrust framework, which is fully
compliant with the UN’s Model Law on Electronic Transferable
Records (MLETR) and allows end users to transfer, indorse, and
verify documents and effect title transfer across different digital
platforms seamlessly, was utilised in the eBL flow of the
transaction.
A quantum-secure ‘seal’ was placed around the
electronic trade documents using Arqit’s symmetric key agreement
and quantum notary technology, ensuring that the documents were
protected from current and future cyber threats including the risk
posed by quantum computers.
The shipment was live tracked, and the condition
of its contents was monitored throughout the journey using
low-cost, secure IoT (Internet of Things) technology developed at
the AESE Laboratory, Imperial College London, led by Professor
Julie McCann and supported by the PETRAS National Centre of
Excellence for IoT Systems Cyber Security and the UKRI Impact
Initiative Account (UKRI-IAA). A tamper resistant digital record of
the location and state of the physical goods was minted onto an NFT
by Database of Native Assets Ltd (DNA), using the IoT sensors and
Kadena blockchain technology to provide additional security for the
shipment in transit.
The pre-existing shipment, used as a basis for
the pilot, was dispatched by water management systems component
manufacturer Permavoid Limited (part of the Genuit Group) to
Singapore. Specialist consultancy AG Midgley Ltd established and
chaired the consortium from inception to completion, with legal
guidance and advice being provided by energy and transport law firm
Watson Farley & Williams LLP (“WFW”) in London and Singapore in
association with Wong Tan & Molly Lim LLC (“WTL”).
As part of the project, the use of the
electronic trade documents is the subject of legal review by WFW
who has advised that the eBL and digital promissory note used in
the project satisfy the requirements of the UK’s Electronic Trade
Documents Bill as regards possession and transfer of possession.
WFW Singapore in association with WTL will advise on the
application of Singapore’s Electronic Trade Act. Both pieces of
legislation are based on the UN’s MLETR being enacted globally.
Nick Davies, Director of the Centre for Digital
Trade and Innovation, said:
“C4DTI, part of the International Chamber of
Commerce UK, was very pleased to be part of this ground-breaking
pilot and is grateful to all the consortium members who volunteered
to be part of it and base it on a real-world international
transaction. It provides a great example of how digitalisation can
remove friction from trade between the UK and Singapore and is a
practical demonstration of the improvements that are achievable
under the terms of MLETR-type legislation and the negotiation of
good, effective Digital Economy Agreements, such as that agreed
between the UK and Singapore.”
Loh Sin Yong, Director of TradeTrust, IMDA,
said:
“As part of Singapore’s partnership with the UK
to promote adoption of cross-border paperless trade, we are excited
to support this industry-driven pilot. We believe the pilot has
helped to demonstrate how the TradeTrust framework is able to aid
solutions to be compliant with MLETR requirements for Electronic
Transferable Records such as electronic Bills of Lading. IMDA will
continue to work with public and private sector to help push for
the digitalisation of global trade.”
Dr Barry Childe, Arqit CIO and Co-Founder,
said:
“Distributed ledger technology enables
organisations to create unique, referenceable and transferable
digital finance instruments, which offer significant advantages
over paper-based alternatives. Arqit was proud to be the lead
partner in this important project and to use our first-of-its-kind
quantum-safe encryption technology to secure the transaction. The
MLETR being enacted internationally ushers in an era of digital
transformation in financial services, but you cannot invest in long
term transformation that is not secure against quantum attack. We
believe that Arqit alone can deliver that.”
Douglas Jakobi, DNA Co-Founder, said:
“DNA is proud to collaborate with Arqit and
Imperial College London on the ICC UK and C4DTI pilot program, and
to have built a cutting edge end-to-end solution that will
revolutionise international trade. At DNA, we make the power &
security of the blockchain accessible to mainstream use cases with
a simple to use tokenisation platform that bridges the physical and
digital worlds.”
About Arqit
Arqit supplies a unique quantum safe encryption
Platform-as-a-Service which makes the communications links or data
at rest of any networked device or cloud machine secure against
current and future forms of attack – even from a quantum computer.
Arqit’s product, QuantumCloud™, enables any device to download a
lightweight software agent, which can create encryption keys in
partnership with any number of other devices. The keys are
computationally secure, optionally one-time use and zero trust.
QuantumCloud™ can create limitless volumes of keys in limitless
group sizes and can regulate the secure entrance and exit of a
device in a group. The addressable market for QuantumCloud™ is
every connected device. Arqit was recently awarded the Innovation
in Cyber award at the UK National Cyber Awards and Cyber Security
Software Company of the Year Award at the UK Cyber Security Awards.
www.arqit.uk
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