Governance in the era of Blockchain technology in Qatar: a roadmap and a manual for Trade Finance

Abstract

Nations worldwide have sought to capitalize on the benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT) including Blockchain, but struggled to strike a balance between encouraging investment and innovation in the technology while addressing the challenges and uncertainties through regulation. Through its FinTech (Financial Technology) Strategy, Qatar has sought to embrace DLT, but its regulatory approach also remains cautious. Trade Finance is an ideal business process to be disrupted through the benefits of DLT and especially Blockchain technology, since its processes remain antiquated, inefficient and lack digitization. Blockchain as a form of DLT particularly offers the Trade Finance process not only more rapid, secure, cost-effective and efficient procedures, but importantly completely assures trust between importers and exporters and removes the requirement to place such trust in third-party intermediaries. Qatar can reap considerable economic benefits through the enhancement of its Trade Finance regulations enabling the adoption of such Blockchain technology. As such, the authors propose a roadmap and manual for the governance of the Trade Finance Blockchain ecosystem in Qatar. The authors propose multi-layered governance approach to the regulation of Blockchain in Qatar by (1) embracing international regulations and standards; (2) replicating foreign regional and national rules that are appropriate and innovative; and (3) applying sandbox regulations to Blockchain products and services.

Economic and legal approaches to the humanization of FinTech in the economy of artificial intelligence through the integration of blockchain into ESG Finance

“…Contrary to the position expressed by such authors as Ibrahim and Truby (2021), Takanashi (2020), Truby et al (2022), it has been proved that public institutions (factors of state regulation) can have a negative impact on blockchain finance: to retard their development even in a highly developed institutional environment. Thus, the increase in: guarantees of the rule of law, the level of economic freedom, the quality of government regulation and political and operational stability, instead of the expected support, hinders the development of blockchain finance.…”

“…RQ 3 : What influence do public institutions (factors of state regulation) have on blockchain finance as one of the key components of modern FinTech? In their publications Ibrahim and Truby (2021), Takanashi (2020), Truby et al (2022) indicate that strong public institutions and the favorable influence of government regulation factors (rule of law, economic freedom, high quality of government regulation, political and business stability, high level of development of the e-government system, as well as high efficiency of government regulation) have a positive (stimulating) impact on blockchain finance.…”

Blockchain governance and trust: A multi-sector thematic systematic review and exploration of future research directions

“…It is found that the public blockchain is vulnerable without an overseeing organisation [ 59 ]. Sandbox regulatory experiments should be conducted before launching the governance systems [ 153 ]. Apart from this, if DAO architectures are used to establish decision-making frameworks in public governance, it is recommended to have a coded rule to upgrade or change protocols when loopholes are identified [ 74 ].…”

“…Another major legal tussle for using blockchain is the absence of a common currency system worldwide. If no currency is involved in the exchange, then there is no need for monetary regulatory approvals [ 153 ]. As of writing this paper, cryptocurrencies are bought using exchanged currency such as the dollar and rupee.…”

Blockchain Technology in International Trade: A Catalyst for Efficiency and Revenue Generation

“…This software established a decentralized and tamper-resistant ledger, which meticulously documents all transactions in a transparent and unchangeable fashion. The technology rapidly garnered attention among technology aficionados; nevertheless, its full capabilities were shown in 2016 when Wave, a financial technology firm, effectively conducted the inaugural trade finance transaction for a letter of credit utilizing blockchain (Ibrahim & Truby, 2022). This significant accomplishment represented a pivotal moment in the trajectory of global commerce, as it substantially diminished the duration of trade transactions from the customary span of 7-10 days to a mere 4 hours (Siddik et al, 2021).…”