Blockchain trade finance firm Marco Polo reportedly enters insolvency
The holding company of blockchain-based trade finance network Marco Polo has reportedly entered insolvency.
Marco Polo reportedly enters insolvency
The Irish firm aimed to streamline and simplify global trade finance processes, with partners and participating banks leveraging its decentralised platform to exchange and automatically match trade data, thereby providing an irrevocable payment commitment from the buyer’s bank to the supplier.
But now, according to The Irish Times, the firm’s liabilities have outstripped its assets by €2.5 million ($2.6m) and its total debt stands at €5.2 million ($5.5m). The Irish High Court has reportedly appointed joint provisional liquidators, declaring the firm insolvent and unable to pay its debts.
Marco Polo launched in 2016 as TradeIX before its rebrand in 2021. It has more than 30 banks as members and backers, including Commerzbank, BNY Mellon, ING Ventures, BNP Paribas, and Mastercard.
The Irish Times reports the company was recently in talks with Bank of America over a proposed $12 million partnership, but the deal fell through following the collapse of FTX.
The firm, which posted cumulative losses of $85 million in 2021, joins another blockchain trade finance network consigned to the history books. We.trade entered insolvency in the middle of last year. Its rulebook and other legal documents were later acquired by Contour, another blockchain-based trade finance platform.
