Any International Supply Chain (ISC) simply cannot perform without cross-border (GTM) components, whereas GTM components can operate in the stand-alone mode. This synergy is a major consideration in the conceptual design of a GTM blockchain.
Potential roadblocks
The first fundamental feature of GTM is rooted in the complexity of governmental, industry, and trade related rules and regulations. The sheer volume of information, its analysis, and calculations required to comply and compute optimal – or even just suitable – alternatives requires significant time and hardware resources. This makes the node prohibitively expensive and is detrimental to a blockchain of any type.
The second problem lies in the nature of the regulations. Regulations change often and dissemination of these changes can pollute traffic and overwhelm storage, especially the nodes that have an infrequent need for such information.
The third problem is caused by the frequency of mandated additions, deletions, and modifications. Practically every change to regulations requires an alteration of the program code. Even the most rigorous testing of the code cannot guarantee the absence of errors which, in turn, may seriously disrupt the whole operation of a blockchain.
Optimal solution
The suggested GTM solution shall be comprised of the main GTM blockchain connected to its satellite childchains. Each childchain performs specifically designated functions and is allowed off-chain transactions. The results of off-chain transactions, such as calculations and compliance verifications, populate the childchain. The resolved childchain-level smart contracts then flow into the main GTM blockchain. In turn, the GTM blockchain may serve as sidechain to the ISC blockchain. Due to the international nature of Global Trade Management, all blockchains must be able to support multiple currencies, multiple languages/cultures, and time-zones.
This approach limits distribution of data to the decision-involved parties or the supply chain participants that are directly responsible for collaboration between vendors or for the visualization of supply chain processes. Calculations, verifications, and error corrections are confined to the remote nodes, which would not consume resources of the main blockchain. Federated consensus of ISC and GTM blockchains is not influenced by compartmentalization of information in this manner.
Adopted from Supply & Demand Chain Executive (SDCE) “SDCE-global-enabled-supply-and-demand-chain-map”
A blockchain part of a GTM sidechain is useless without the complete suite of GTM applications, as no GTM functions can be performed and, subsequently, no results can be posted to a blockchain.
