Watr And Parity Establish Digital Commons For Ethical Commodities

If there is anything to take away from the past few years, it is how the commodities industry needs to change. Resource companies still post record profits all the while markets suffer from unparalleled volatility. Moreover, consumers pay an arm and a leg for the resources they need, making life much harder than it needs to be. Supply chain shortages, inflationary concerns, and other aspects illustrate the inefficiency of the current market system.

These issues are not new, although they have become glaringly obvious to many more people suddenly. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concerns from financiers and resource buyers have created an uneasy situation that requires change. The solution is simple: ensure suppliers and consumers have the adequate tools to distinguish between good and bad in pricing and uptake. That is the missing link to establishing responsible supply chains and ensuring they are economically viable.  

Watr Foundation Council President Maryam Ayati adds:

 “The opportunity to create new classes of ethical commodities and traded supply chains is tremendous. We are thrilled to have the legendary team at Parity join us and our existing partners in enabling commodities’ transition to Web3 business models and liquidity while safeguarding the security and decentralized ethos of a public blockchain servicing both retail and regulated institutional users.”

What Watr does is establish a blockchain protocol and decentralized application ecosystem for ethical commodities, their financing and trade. The public protocol is a new opportunity for builders, developers, teams, and digital ventures, with a strong focus on retail and enterprise use cases. The initial applications will focus on helping the citizens of Watr’s home soil in Africa. Moreover, Watr secured a partnership with Parity Technologies to develop this long-term vision further.

Forging Key Partnerships

While Watr is the first-of-its-kind collaboration between industry giants, commodities, and web 3 pioneers, new partnerships will be forged. For example, the strategic collaboration with Parity Technologies illustrates the importance of working together for the greater good. Through the partnership, Watr’s protocol will be co-developed by Parity Technologies, as will its key application. In addition, the teams will conduct joint R&D on the intricacies required to service the commodities industry at large. 

Watr will leverage Polkadot’s community and decentralized security to a parachain. Moreover, the protocol is fully EVM-compatible, which will enable future cross-chain compatibility with other networks. Several applications for this new protocol are in development, including identity/KYC solutions and tokenizing/exchanging ethical commodity supply chains, including carbon credits. 

Facilitating that exchanging and tokenizing are curated liquidity pools focused on ethical commodities. For now, the majority of that liquidity is sourced across Africa, as there is no shortage of ethical commodities. Essentially, the processes culminate in on-chain trading of premium ethical commodities created by their producers and sourced by the right audience of buyers and financiers. 

Driving such a steep change in the commodities industry will take time. The Watr protocol and its application layer are in development, but they are one part of the equation. The other part revolves around transforming the commodities world through open dialog and engagement. Everyone needs to see the benefits this new idea brings to the table and how it helps global entrepreneurs to innovate and build novel applications. High-value ventures can then take those tools and grow them further, all under the banner of ethical commodities and bettering our planet. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice