Conclusion

The pace at which the technological revolution is reshaping the global economy is like 15.67 nothing the world has ever experienced. It may provide technological solutions to the de­velopment of industries or even entire countries which hope to ‘leapfrog’ their historical underdevelopment to the most modern technological stage.

The digitalisation of Islamic trade finance via blockchain and smart contracts will help 15.68 Islamic finance to standardise its financial practices, as the technology itself requires in­creased standardisation and platform interoperability for it to function optimally. While religious and ethical considerations must be given to this market-driven development,^[1772] there is undoubtedly much to applaud about blockchain’s potential for streamlining inef­ficient trade-finance practices, creating a level playing field, increasing transparency and reducing opportunities for fraud. That technological innovation would help Islamic finance to realise its commercial principles is not what its theorisers had in mind when they set out to create an Islamic economy. Perhaps this paradox says something important about the monumental changes that Islamic financial law has undergone in the modern, global­ised world. It would seem that innovation of the kind we are on the cusp of experiencing in Islamic trade finance may be conducive to generating more ethical and transparent trade­finance processes.

Furthermore, the eventual success of blockchain for Islamic and conventional trade finance          15.69

can help the states of the MENA region to seize the technological moment, radically trans­forming their state-led, oil-dependent economies so as to meet their citizens’ increasing social and economic demands. Whether this becomes reality depends on the extent to which data can be standardised across blockchain platforms, so that disparate parties communicate with one another using a similar data format.

15.70     Moreover, the complexity of international trade cannot be simplified unless the underlying

trade finance and customs clearing processes as well as bills of lading are completely digital­ised. While some previous attempts at creating electronic bills of lading systems failed, not­ably SEADOCS,^[1773] blockchain may offer a route to managing data in this particular area. Blockchain technology has been used to issue and transfer electronic bills of lading. The challenges of implementing blockchain and smart contracts for trade finance are significant but with concerted effort, surmountable and revolutionary.