South Korea's $22.2 billion trading giant completed its second blockchain-based receivables pilot in a month, signaling serious institutional appetite for tokenized trade finance
POSCO International, the trading arm of South Korea’s steel and industrial conglomerate POSCO Holdings, completed a pilot tokenizing real trade receivables on the Avalanche blockchain on August 25. The receivables weren’t hypothetical. Trade-finance firm Olea, backed by Standard Chartered’s venture arm SC Ventures, bought them with actual capital.
How the pilot worked #
POSCO International America, the company’s US subsidiary, partnered with Intain, which operates a Layer-1 network built on Avalanche’s infrastructure. The process started with AI-powered verification of trade documents, including invoices and shipping records, checking them for consistency before anything touched the blockchain.
Once verified, the receivables were registered on Intain’s network, creating an immutable ledger of ownership and transaction history. Olea then stepped in as both the trade-finance platform and the capital provider, purchasing the tokenized receivables. SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation and venture investment unit, backs Olea.
Second pilot in a month #
Less than a month earlier, on July 27, the company completed a separate proof-of-concept with LG CNS, this time tokenizing trade receivables on the Injective blockchain. That earlier pilot also used live trade data pulled from POSCO International’s overseas subsidiaries, not synthetic test data.
POSCO International generated $22.2 billion in revenue, operates more than 80 branches worldwide, and spans industries from steel and energy to battery materials.
Why trade finance is a natural fit for tokenization #
The Asian Development Bank has previously estimated the global trade finance gap at roughly $2.5 trillion, meaning that’s how much legitimate trade doesn’t happen because financing is too cumbersome or too risky for lenders.
POSCO International’s pilot specifically used AI to handle the document verification layer before blockchain registration, combining machine learning’s ability to parse unstructured documents with blockchain’s ability to create trust between counterparties.
The stablecoin angle #
POSCO International America, Olea, and Intain have all indicated they plan to explore additional applications, including using stablecoins for cross-border transactions and building digital treasury tools.
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