Spiko & Concordium Disrupt Trade Finance: Killing Escrow to Unlock $300B Market

Blockchain just took a chainsaw to trade finance's rusty plumbing.

Spiko's partnership with Concordium isn't tweaking the system—it's vaporizing the need for escrow altogether. The $300B trade finance industry still runs on fax-era delays and middlemen skimming margins. That ends now.

How it works: Smart contracts replace trust-based escrow accounts. Payments auto-execute when shipment milestones hit the chain—no more waiting for banks to rubber-stamp paperwork. The tech cuts settlement times from weeks to minutes while slashing fraud risks.

The cynical take? Banks will lobby hard against this. Escrow generates too much easy revenue from inefficiency—why kill a cash cow when you can milk it indefinitely?

One thing's certain: When you remove rent-seeking intermediaries, markets move faster. And $300B in trapped liquidity is about to get very, very mobile.

About Concordium

Concordium is a scalable Layer 1 blockchain that offers a unique identity layer at the protocol level to ensure verified and private user interactions enabled via zero-knowledge proof technology. Founded in 2018, the research-backed chain enables Smart Money with programmable protocol-level tokens, advanced PayFi features like time releases and compliance controls, and secure ID-based geofencing for cross-border transactions, making it the chain of choice for enterprise-ready stablecoins looking for real-world adoption while adhering to new regulatory frameworks. 

About Spiko

Spiko is a Paris-based fintech reshaping cash management. In mid-2024, it launched the first UCITS-compliant Money Market Funds with a fully on-chain shareholder register. Just a year in, Spiko has surpassed $400M in AUM and $1B in transaction volume, driven by strong organic growth and product-led momentum. With over 1,000 companies and institutions onboarded, Spiko now boasts the largest investor base in the tokenized money market space.

Its user interface and developer-friendly API make it easy for fintechs to integrate Spiko’s products seamlessly. Spiko is redefining what money market funds can be, offering 24/7 transferability of fund shares and pushing the boundaries of legacy infrastructure. Its long-term vision: to drive innovation not just in MMFs, but across the entire landscape of financial instruments. The team recently announced a $22M Series A led by Index Ventures.