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Bitcoin used in landmark freight deal

The Prime Shipping Foundation -an open-source project by Gibraltar-based Quorum Capital and shipbroker Interchart – has revealed it was behind the world’s first freight deal settled in Bitcoin.

Executed last month on a vessel carrying wheat from Russia to Turkey, the financial transaction was a trial ahead of a roll out of services from Prime Shipping expected later this year. The deal was for 3,000 metric tons of Russian wheat shipped from Rostov-on-Don Samsun in Turkey

“The Prime Crypto Bank will become the interface between the online world and the real world, allowing a gradual adoption for the shipping industry, without compromising the benefits the new era brings.”, Ivan Vikulov, CEO of the Prime Shipping Foundation said.

In a release issued today, Prime Shipping claimed shipping was a good fit for Bitcoin.

“Most of worlds’ (sic) tonnage is currently registered offshore. The flexibility of these jurisdictions creates a good foundation for the development and the potential switch away from the classical banking system towards a much simpler payment system,” the company stated.

Prime Shipping’s news follows hot on the heels of Louis Dreyfus sealing the world’s first agricultural commodity trade to use blockchain. The French trading house used the technology to sell a cargo of US soybeans to China’s Shandong Bohi Industry.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. Great to see bitcoin/cryptocurrency used in a market like this. It’s faster than the standard that we’re all used to these days. With this and new things like uber doing freights, I’m excited to see where this is all heading in the next few years!

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