WEF TradeTech Sandbox: Digitising Global Trade
How the World Economic Forum and UAE regulators used NayaOne’s sandbox to test e-bills, digital identity, and stablecoin payments - proving trade can be faster, safer, and more inclusive.
Outcomes
10x
Faster Document Processing
4x
Faster SME Financing Approvals
3x
Increase in Trade Visibility and Data Integrity
60%
Faster Regulatory Feedback Cycles
Technology Vendors Suited to Evaluation
Business Problem
Global trade remains anchored in manual documentation, slow processing, and limited visibility across parties.
Paper-based systems add friction, increase fraud risk, and restrict SME participation. Despite the availability of advanced technologies – from e-bills and verifiable credentials to stablecoins and tokenised assets – fragmented regulation and a lack of unified testing environments prevent adoption at scale.
Challenges
- Paper-based trade flows slowing settlements and compliance checks
- Regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions and trade zones
- Limited interoperability between trade, identity, and payment systems
- High costs and delays in document verification and credit processing
- Absence of shared digital testing environments for cross-border innovation
From Idea to Evidence with NayaOne
The TradeTech Regulatory Sandbox, launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade and Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), used NayaOne’s platform to simulate live trade scenarios in a safe environment. Eight global technology firms integrated APIs, accessed synthetic datasets (e.g., invoices, bills of lading), and tested workflows with active input from four UAE regulators.
Key testing activities included:
- Running MLETR-compliant e-bills and digital originals for document transfer
- Implementing decentralised identity and verifiable credentials for counterpart verification
- Using AI and tokenisation to accelerate SME trade finance approvals
- Piloting stablecoin and digital bank guarantees for instant settlement
- Enabling regulators to monitor AML/KYC compliance and enforceability in real-time.
The sandbox validated that innovation and regulation can evolve together. By using NayaOne’s platform, the WEF initiative proved that cross-border trade can become faster, more inclusive, and compliant – creating a blueprint for how policy, data, and technology can co-develop in future TradeTech ecosystems.
Impact Metrics
PoC Timeline Reduction
4 months with NayaOne vs 12 – 18 months traditionally
Time Saved in Vendor Evaluation
1+ year
Decision Quality
Higher confidence in interoperability, data privacy, and cross-regulatory coordination for digital trade readiness.
KPIs
- Processing time reduction: Duration from document issue to payment confirmation
- Settlement time: Average time for payment or guarantee completion
- Verification accuracy: Match rate for identity and goods verification
- Financing turnaround: Time to approval for SME credit
- Cross-agency collaboration: Number of regulators co-testing in the sandbox
- Cost efficiency: Savings per document or transaction processed
Explore How Digital Sandboxes Accelerate Trade Transformation
See how the WEF and UAE regulators used NayaOne’s sandbox to digitise trade flows, test cross-border payments, and validate interoperability at scale.
