IOTA Partners with World Economic Forum to Digitize Global Trade

• IOTA’s collaboration with WEF and partners aims to digitalize global trade using Tangle and TLIP for secure data exchange.
• The TLIP initiative empowers all stakeholders equally, enabling transparent, decentralized trade through a non-profit, open-source infrastructure.

The IOTA management team recently visited the headquarters of the World Economic Forum in Geneva as part of a collaboration with the WEF. They are already on a mission to digitalize trade and supply chains globally. For this purpose, IOTA utilizes Tangle technology to enable more secure, efficient, and transparent data exchange among nations.

Thank you to the World Economic Forum for inviting @iota leadership team to its Geneva HQ. We’re excited to work with @wef to digitize global trade & #supplychains. Together through #TWIN, we’re solving key challenges in international trade by making it digital and seamless. pic.twitter.com/JXj9iGXizj

— IOTA (@iota) March 25, 2025

With the TWIN initiative, IOTA and the WEF are addressing deep-seated inefficiencies in global trade. By integrating digital solutions into trade logistics, they’re creating a seamless, tamper-proof infrastructure that builds trust and simplifies processes. This collaboration puts IOTA at the forefront of the future of decentralized trade systems.

WEF, IOTA, and the Shared Vision for Transparent Trade

February 27 was a critical date in this transformation. A blog post from the IOTA Foundation announced a new alliance that goes beyond just WEF — with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Trademark Africa also jumping on board. Together, they’re reshaping the landscape, brick by digital brick.

In Abu Dhabi, at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference, this momentum was given a formal structure. A Collaboration Agreement was signed between IOTA and its partners to ensure the governance of TLIP stays fair, open, and inclusive. The intent? Create a shared digital space that welcomes all stakeholders to shape how trade evolves.

A core advantage of TLIP lies in IOTA’s distributed tech, which hands control back to individual actors in the system. They manage their own data, decide who sees what, and do so without having to trust a centralized gatekeeper. It’s a structure designed to mirror the decentralized spirit of global trade itself.

Building a Non-Profit Digital Backbone for Trade

TLIP isn’t about profit-first priorities. It’s being shaped as a non-profit, open-source system — an accessible platform where small businesses and large corporations alike can develop applications, services, and business models on top of a stable digital foundation.

This approach ensures that innovation isn’t limited to the big players. Everyone has the same shot at building on this infrastructure, creating a balanced ecosystem where value can be shared, not hoarded. Interoperability is the north star here, and TLIP is steering the course.

For IOTA, the global stage isn’t the only one where it’s making noise. The Foundation’s Africa wing has launched IOTA Rebased, an initiative aimed at increasing decentralization across the continent. With a focus on real-world use cases, engaging local communities, and empowering developers, it’s a critical part of Africa’s rising Web3 presence.

Back on the international front, IOTA’s model replaces bureaucracy with autonomy. Once documents are authenticated within TLIP, they’re locked in. No edits, no tampering — just a straight record of trade data, from origin to destination.