IOTA’s trade infrastructure work has been highlighted in the Global Blockchain Business Council’s 101 Real-World Blockchain Use Cases Handbook, 2026 Edition, where the IOTA Foundation appears as Use Case 99. The entry focuses on the Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline, or TLIP, an East Africa-focused deployment of the broader Trade Worldwide Information Network, known as TWIN, which uses IOTA distributed ledger technology to support verifiable trade data exchange.
IOTA Trade Network Lands in GBBC Use Case Report
IOTA said in an X post that it was “excited” to be featured in GBBC’s 2026 handbook, pointing to its work through TWIN and related trade infrastructure initiatives. GBBC described the handbook as a collection of 101 blockchain use cases across industries and jurisdictions, intended to show how the technology is being applied beyond speculative markets.
Excited that IOTA is featured in @GBBC_io‘s 101 Use Cases Handbook 2026 (Use Case 99). Building real-world impact through @TWINGlobalOrg & more.
Learn more ⤵️ https://t.co/f0P7TUxXcj
— IOTA (@iota) June 10, 2026
The GBBC entry frames IOTA’s contribution around trade digitization rather than token-market activity. It states: “Global trade, a $35 trillion market, still runs on paper. Customs declarations, certificates of origin, phytosanitary certificates, and bills of lading are exchanged manually across fragmented systems.” The report adds that these processes contribute to “border delays, duplicated validation work, vulnerability to fraud, and near-zero supply chain visibility.”
The use case centers on TLIP, described in the report as a deployment of TWIN, an open-source network built on IOTA’s distributed ledger technology. TLIP was initiated in 2020 by TradeMark Africa and the IOTA Foundation, with backing from the Kenyan government and funding partners in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to enable secure, auditable and standardized trade data exchange across East Africa’s export corridors, reducing administrative friction for importers and exporters.
TLIP Highlights Blockchain’s Role in East Africa Trade
The GBBC report emphasizes that paper-heavy trade processes impose uneven costs, particularly on developing economies and smaller exporters. “The cost falls on everyone, but unevenly. Exporters absorb high administrative burdens. Logistics providers cannot coordinate in real time.” The report continues: “Government agencies re-verify documents already checked by others. Financial institutions, unable to accurately assess risk, pull back on trade finance, contributing to a global gap estimated in the trillions.”
TWIN is broader than TLIP and is positioned as open-source digital infrastructure for global trade. The TWIN Foundation was launched on May 8, 2025, at the AfCFTA Digital Trade Forum in Lusaka, Zambia, as a not-for-profit body to steward the network’s infrastructure, standards, technical development and ecosystem growth. Its founding partners include TradeMark Africa, the IOTA Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade.
Technically, TWIN uses IOTA DLT as a trust layer for functions including decentralized identity, credential verification, smart contracts, immutable audit trails, document tokenization and data-integrity proofs. TLIP’s East Africa implementation integrates with Kenyan trade authorities, including the Kenya Revenue Authority, KenTrade and KEPHIS, and supports documents such as export declarations, certificates of export, phytosanitary certificates and airway bills. The TLIP website also describes API-based integration with corporate and government systems, using standards including UN/CEFACT and GS1 EPCIS 2.0.
The GBBC use case places IOTA’s trade work within a wider push to digitize cross-border commerce through neutral, interoperable infrastructure. For IOTA, the TLIP and TWIN initiatives represent a practical blockchain deployment focused on documentation, identity, compliance and supply-chain visibility rather than consumer-facing crypto applications. The report’s inclusion of TLIP underscores how distributed ledger systems are being tested in trade corridors where paper documentation, fragmented systems and verification bottlenecks remain material obstacles.
AI Transparency Note: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system based on the sources listed and was reviewed, edited, and approved by a human editor before publication. All quotes, data points, and factual claims are intended to be grounded in the cited source material; however, errors cannot be ruled out entirely.