From Concept to Reality: Evolving the GVC Passport towards the ISTTP

Gianluca Riccio

Senior Expert Advisory Group Member, Verifiable.Trade Foundation  |   Chair of the Finance Committee at the “Business at OECD” (BIAC)

The history of global trade has always been defined by the pursuit of new frontiers. In 1453, when the Ottoman Empire seized Constantinople and gained control of the Silk Road, the resulting trade blockages forced Europeans to seek new routes, leading to the discovery of the Americas and the voyage around Africa. Today, we face a different kind of blockade. Our "frontiers" are no longer geographical, but digital. While global trade remains a driving force for prosperity, it is currently hampered by a reliance on paper-based documentation and fragmented data standards that create significant barriers to integration.

In this landscape, the International Secure Trade Transfer Protocol (ISTTP) by the Verifiable.Trade Foundation (VTF) is emerging as a fundamental redesign of how trust and identity are managed in global commerce. Interestingly, it incorporates the spirit of the Global Value Chain (GVC) Passport — a conceptual framework introduced during the 2020 G20 Saudi Arabian Presidency. The ISTTP goes a step further: it is the protocol layer for the trusted exchange of machine-readable trade data and events across business, logistics, and finance.

A Conceptual Seed: The GVC Passport

The GVC Passport emerged from work started by the B20-“Business at OECD”: with a revolutionary vision: providing firms with an authenticated, authoritative, and verifiable financial fingerprint.

Traditionally, global value chain mechanisms rely on paper or PDF commercial invoices, which are notoriously prone to fraud and inefficiencies. The GVC Passport conceptual framework envisages to solve this by allowing a firm to prove its legitimacy and compliance just once. Instead of having new documentation to fill out, it acts as a digital compiler that recognises existing certifications. It could, via mutual recognition formally sanctioned by dedicated authorities or appointed delegates, provide accreditation across the value chain of the relevant financial requirements. By using cryptographically verifiable credentials, it ensures that a firm can be recognised as a legitimate partner throughout the entire GVC without undergoing duplicative verifications or reproducing the same documentation repeatedly. Under the 2021 Italian Presidency, the B20 made a concrete step forward by demonstrating how the GVC Passport could specifically be applied to the Trade Finance space.

The ultimate objective of this initiative is to envision a solution where a balanced approach is possible in significantly reducing bureaucracy, while increasing transparency and traceability, as well as facilitate firms’ access to wider markets.

The Missing Link: Why We Needed a Protocol

Despite the elegance of the GVC Passport concept, its implementation requires a universal digital protocol for data exchange. Without a shared language, firms remained trapped in fragmented regulatory frameworks that impeded automation and real-time transparency.

The Verifiable.Trade Foundation (VTF) is progressing the B20 putting these recommendations into practice through its ISTTP 2025 breakthrough.

The International Secure Trade Transfer Protocol (ISTTP) is an end-to-end infrastructure designed to be a shared digital public good, intended to do for trade what HTTP and HTML did for the internet: enable universal connectivity and ensure interoperability from the very beginning. The ISTTP leverages open standards and verifiable credentials to facilitate a fully digital, tamper-evident documentation process. It creates the first functional form of the GVC Passport, moving it from a policy recommendation to a live, open-source protocol.

If the GVC Passport is the identity, the ISTTP is the infrastructure that carries it—and much more. While the "HTTP of Trade" is a useful analogy for its role in enabling universal connectivity, the ISTTP is more than a simple transport protocol. It is a shared digital public good that ensures trust travels with the data.

The ISTTP moves the industry away from a document-centric paradigm toward verifiable data objects and events. This shift replaces the exchange of static PDFs with machine-readable exchange, where provenance is baked into the data itself.

Key Innovations of the ISTTP

The ISTTP represents a shift from local trust to externalised trust, where reliability is not dependent on a specific silo but on the protocol itself:

• Trust Travels with the Data: This is the core of the ISTTP. Rather than relying on a platform to "vouch" for information, the data itself carries its own proof of authenticity.

  
  

• Decentralised Identity (vLEI): Every data exchange is signed using the verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI), providing a worldwide unique identifier that ensures transparency.

  
  

• Selective Disclosure: To optimize speed and privacy, the ISTTP allows parties to share only the specific data points required, giving authorized parties access to the truth without over-sharing sensitive business intelligence.

  
  

• Verifiable Data Exchange vs. Document Exchange: The ISTTP facilitates a fully digital, tamper-evident process centered on data integrity rather than "digital paper".

  
  

• Protocol vs. Platform: Unlike private trade platforms that are often geographically or sectorally limited, the VTF develops the ISTTP as an open-source, neutral foundation. It does not compete with platforms; it enables them to function more securely.

Bridging the Trade Finance Gap

The stakes for this digital transformation are incredibly high. The World Trade Organization estimates that 80-90% of global trade — roughly $20 to $22.5 trillion — depends on trade finance. Yet, there is a $2.5 trillion trade finance gap that disproportionately affects small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The ISTTP addresses this by providing a framework for high-integrity data that reduces risk for financiers. For example, by digitally marking events related to an invoice, the protocol aids in mitigating double financing risks, helping regulators harmonize cross-border frameworks.  Consider Farah, a small business owner in Morocco. Through the ISTTP, her business profile and transaction data become an "authenticated fingerprint" that international buyers and banks can trust instantly. She can secure financing based on verifiable data rather than burdensome, duplicative paperwork.

A Foundation for the Future

It is important to note that Verifiable.Trade does not compete with existing trade platforms. Instead, it creates the reliable, neutral foundation upon which all platforms can function more securely. The ISTTP protocol represents a shift toward a borderless, inclusive digital environment. Without such an open, interoperable design, a few dominant players would continue to dictate the rules, forcing everyone else to repeatedly register for new interfaces or face exclusion.

By using AI to facilitate deployment and adhering to standardised global identifiers recommended by the FSB, the ISTTP serves as a vital tool for productivity and anti-corruption. Just as 15th-century blockades spurred an era of physical discovery, today’s digital fragmentation has spurred a new architecture. The ISTTP provides the transparency and trust necessary for a truly sustainable and accessible global trading system.