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- GLEIF and the IOTA Foundation will test how LEI and vLEI can be embedded in IOTA and TWIN to provide reusable, verifiable organizational identities on-chain.
- Initial proofs of concept target streamlined customs checks, lower compliance friction, and broader access to trade finance.
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and the IOTA Foundation announced a collaboration to explore standardized organizational digital identity for cross-border trade. The work examines how the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and the verifiable LEI (vLEI) can provide instant, verifiable trust across the IOTA distributed infrastructure and the Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN).
Partnership scope and technical focus
IOTA is a distributed ledger infrastructure built for scalable digital trust applications that include smart contracts, decentralized identity standards, and an incentive-based architecture. The IOTA Foundation co-founded TWIN, a decentralized trade network that enables real-time, verifiable data exchange across jurisdictions.
The partners will assess how organizations can establish a recognized digital identity in either the LEI ecosystem or IOTA’s identity framework, then reuse it across both environments. The aim is to increase interoperability and inclusion by aligning globally standardized identifiers with verifiable credentials suitable for on-chain workflows.
Alexandre Kech, GLEIF’s chief executive, said,
“GLEIF and the IOTA Foundation share a common belief that organizational identity and verification is the key to making global trade more efficient, transparent, and inclusive and that this can best be realized through decentralized, open-source infrastructures.”
He added,
“By examining the potential to connect complementary ecosystems and combine our experience and expertise in the development and application of verifiable credentials, this collaboration marks an important step towards the digitalization of global trade.”
Implications for supply chains and finance
Initial proofs of concept examine how verifiable organizational identity can be embedded directly into trade processes within TWIN and IOTA. The design is intended to ease compliance, reduce manual checks, and improve data integrity for customs authorities, port operators, and logistics providers. It also seeks to simplify fragmented supply chains by enabling counterparties to authenticate each other and their documentation in real time.
Potential applications include support for secure cross-border payments, standardized documentation for sanctions and KYC controls, and more consistent access to trade finance where lenders require reliable identity data. The partners note that the approach could inform digital public infrastructure by anchoring organizational identity in portable, verifiable credentials that can be audited on demand. Dominik Schiener, co-founder and chairman of the IOTA Foundation, said,
“By integrating the LEI and vLEI into the TWIN infrastructure, we can deliver verifiable organizational identities directly into supply chain processes.”
He continued,
“This will help streamline compliance, reduce friction, and unlock new opportunities for businesses of all sizes to participate in global commerce.”
