GTINTOKEN ™
Making the barcode digital for Trade
Bringing the Familiar into Digital Trade
Helping to connect Digital Trade Islands
BridgING Digital Trade Standards gaps
Across an Asset Tokenization Platform
About Trade Gateways
TRADE GATEWAYS is operated by Local Merchant Services as an IBM Partner Programme. It provides an Infrastructure for Trade Digitization with over 300 Digital Trade Gateways and also operates TradeDigitization.com. TRADE GATEWAYS co-operates with B2B Marketplaces with millions of subscribers.
The GTINTOKEN TRADEMARK
TRADE GATEWAYS own the GTINToken Trademark. TRADE GATEWAYS is building on the GTIN infrastructure to create the GTINTOKEN Standard as part of the GTIT Platform.
This uses the familiar Barcode Structure developed over the last 50 years to help bring in a new way of doing trade using Trade Digitization.
The familiar Barcode Structure is based on the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). The GTIT Platform is the Global Trade Item Token Platform owned and operated by TRADE GATEWAYS.
The GTINTOKEN Trademark is also owned by TRADE GATEWAYS. The GTINTOKEN Standard is being adapted into the GTIT Platform.
The initial campaign is on using the ETHICALLY SOURCED Mark as an Ethically Sourced Identifier on the GTIT Asset Tokenization Platform, as part of the GTINTOKEN programme.
A recent survey found 66% of consumers are more likely to buy products that are ethically sourced. The global market value of ethically labeled, packaged food products is around 1 trillion U.S. dollars. The ability to immediately identify products as being ethically sourced is very important in today’s world.
What is Tokenization?
Tokenization refers to the process of creating a token on a blockchain that represents an asset. Tokenization of products on TRADE GATEWAYS is a representation of products being traded across the TRADE GATEWAYS Network.
Tokenization gives asset holders access to benefits that include instantaneous settlement and programmability, i.e., the ability to embed code in the token, and the ability of the token to engage with smart contracts—enabling higher degrees of automation.
What is An Asset Tokenization Platform?
Asset tokenization platforms enable the creation of a digital proof of ownership for real-world liquid assets such as trade products.
These asset-backed tokens have real-world capital and liquid value. Digital assets offer a flexible system for managing digital assets and facilitating transactions. Once assets are tokenized, they can be used for transactions globally.
TRADE GATEWAYS Asset Tokenization Programme
Global Trade identifiers are used to look up product information in a database (often by entering the number through a barcode scanner pointed at an actual product).
The uniqueness and universality of the identifier is useful in establishing which product in one database corresponds to which product in another database, especially across organizational boundaries.
Adoption of tokenization is held currently back by limitations of the available infrastructure.
Trade is changing
Trade is pretty much done the same way today as it has been for the last 200 years. Possession of paper documents of title have represented ownership. TRADE GATEWAYS is helping to provide an infrastructure for change.
The importance of Unique Global Identifiers in Trade
Using globally accepted and standardised identifiers and code schemes can unlock great advantages for trade partners as they participate in the global economy and international trade.
This facilitates the creation and sharing of unique ‘end-to-end’ identification of subjects and objects, resulting in richer, high-quality data in the international supply chains.
GTINTOKEN as a globally recognized Identifier for Trade Tokens
It is important to build on globally recognized standards. The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is a globally recognized standard that identifies products at any packaging level (e.g., consumer unit, inner pack, case, pallet).
GTINTOKEN is a standard that builds on the GTIN to uniquely identify Product Tokens in trade by combining the GTIN; the country code that determines the relevant certificate of origin; and the relevant industry code. GTINTOKEN is operated on the GTIT (Global Trade Item Token) Asset Tokenization platform operated by TRADE GATEWAYS.
Implementation of GTIN semantics in a Trade Digitization framework
In the world's first-ever implementation of GTIN semantics in a Trade Digitization framework, TRADE GATEWAYS has created the GTINTOKEN Pogramme as outlined above.
This development enables all brands already implementing GTIN for barcodes and as identifiers to seamlessly and rapidly implement a Trade Digitization Programme.
GTINs are currently used globally to identify products—critical to enabling products to work with different systems and applications.
TRADE GATEWAYS is the world's most extensive Digital Trade Gateways Network. Through partnerships with global giants, TRADE GATEWAYS is able to provide the required infrastructure for Trade Digitization for physical Products.
Individual Digital Trade Gateways in the TRADE GATEWAYS network are effectively Digital Islands that are connected across the TRADE GATEWAYS Network.
As such, featuring the GTINTOKEN Programme across the TRADE GATEWAYS network, helps to standardize the Trade Identifiers used in accordance with globally established norms, as well as help with the adoption of MLETR.
TRADE GATEWAYS integration of the GTINTOKEN Programme, enhances its capability to bring speed, convenience, and scale to the digitization of physical products, building on existing standard identification methods.
Digital Trade Gateways will feature manufacturers in their specific regions, and work to assign GTINTOKEN identifiers to their products.
Getting a GTINTOKEN Number
(GTINs) relate to products traded and sold in Conventional trade, and have been issued since 1973.
GTINTOKEN Numbers relate to the tokens of products traded and sold in Digitized trade, and have been issued since 2023 as Trade becomes Digitized.
As owners of the GTINTOKEN Trademark, TRADE GATEWAYS is the only authorised provider of GTINTOKEN Numbers which are also called GTITs (Global Trade Item Token Numbers).
Providing a framework to connect digital TRADE islands
TRADE GATEWAYS has established a Network, which features global players that can help to use their infrastructure to bring familiar structures on conventional trade into the currently unfamiliar world of Trade Digitization.
TRADE GATEWAYS is an IBM Partner programme that is bringing on board a co-operation with a Global Logistics Giant in DSV. The co-operation covers Global Marketplaces such as TradeKey, and the intention is to make Trade Digitization features available to members of chambers of commerce in the places where there are Digital Trade Gateways that are part of the TRADE GATEWAYS Network.
The TRADE GATEWAYS Digital Trade Gateways Network is helping to facilitate the harmonisation of digital standards across the global TRADE GATEWAYS Network, and thereby avoid fragmentation.
The Digital Trade Gateways are closed User Groups across which users agree legal equivalence between paper and electronic documents.
This will help with the adoption of the Model Law of Electronic Transferable records (MLETR) of UNCITRAL to ensure legal interoperability across legal jurisdictions.
Existing standards are adopted and built on, where possible, rather than creating standards from scratch. In most cases, global standards already exist than can be adopted by trade parties.
Recent innovations to digitise the global trading system run the risk of fragmenting the market and the platforms used by several industries of the international supply chain and public sector agencies. There is a clear need for a framework to connect digital islands. TRADE GATEWAYS is helping to facilitate such a global framework.
TRADE GATEWAYS Portals and B2B Marketplaces
In Co-operation with major B2B Marketplace partners, with many millions of users, the TRADE GATEWAYS network helps businesses market their products internationally, find genuine buyers, satisfy their business requirements and explore regional and international Business opportunities.
The TRADE GATEWAYS global network of over 300 Digital Trade Gateways gives users a unique advantage. Users can feature Products in over 300 Digital Trade Gateways that are part of the Network.
The Tokenization Platform provides a simple one stop shop for tokenizing products and Digitizing trade, i.e. providing the custody, distribution, trading, management and servicing of those tokens, as well as digital payment mechanisms using smart contracts, and transferring ownership of products once payment is made.
Once a sale is agreed at an applicable B2B Marketplace, the Tokenization Programme is used to tokenize and facilitate the transaction. Logistics partners at Relevant Local Digital Trade Gateways are used to provide End To End Logistics and execute the Transaction.
GTINTOKEN Cost and Time Savings
The GTINTOKEN Tokenization Programme provides product suppliers the tools and support to do this at a fraction of the cost of most asset Tokenization Platforms, and at a fraction of the time.
Re-use rather than Recreate is the Ethos of GTINTOKEN
