The World Blockchain Trade Consortium (WBTC) launched this week at the Singapore Fintech Festival, according to a note from one of the founding members.

The WBTC has launched with Fintech platforms, insurance providers and trade finance funds, each reportedly utilizing Invoice Check – a blockchain application developed by Trade Finance Market (TFM).

WBTC launch members include: National Credit Insurance Brokers (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore), Incomlend (Singapore), GTR Ventures (Singapore, Hong Kong, UK) and Portal Finance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico). The group says that more members will be announced soon.

The mission of the group is to:

Unite Stakeholders in the trade finance community by using blockchain technology to lower costs, reduce risk and increase funding to SMEs. The group also wants to close the US $1.5 trillion trade finance gap.

Rupert Sayer, co-founder & CEO of GTR Ventures in Singapore, which invested in TFM, said that TFMs work with WBTC members is an excellent example of a practical use case for DLT in trade finance.