Tradeshift Tests MakerDAO’s Stablecoin For Invoice Solution

In an effort to expedite payments for small businesses, MakerDAO is working with Tradeshift to tokenize unpaid invoices through an experimental program. MakerDAO, which has a stablecoin called Dai, said the token is being tested with the Tradeshift Cash solution, CoinDesk reported.

With the effort, a small business could have the opportunity to change an invoice into the Dai stablecoin. The coin would be offered at a discount, and a crypto investor could purchase the token. In turn, the funds would be changed into fiat currency to be put into the account of a small business. The idea behind using a stablecoin is such as token’s price doesn’t dramatically fluctuate, which is important because “the trade receivables market has very tight margins, which leaves no room for a volatile digital currency as [an] instrument for settlement,” said Tradeshift’s Co-founder Gert Sylvest.

The news comes as Tradeshift is heightening its presence in the B2B payments space through the launch of Tradeshift Pay, and is introducing a blockchain-powered early payments service as part of the new offering. A May press release said the company is rolling out its cloud-based supply chain payments, supply chain finance and early payments offering into an integrated solution.

Tradeshift Pay aims to unlock working capital that gets stuck in accounts receivable as businesses delay payments to suppliers, the company explained. Its end-to-end payments and finance tool lets buyers make payments via virtual cards and other payment rails. Tradeshift Pay also supports buyers’ access to supply chain finance and payments via blockchain so they can take advantage of early payment discounts, which enable businesses to save money while suppliers are paid more quickly.

Tradeshift CEO and Co-founder Christian Lanng said in the press release, “In an industry where 50 percent of U.S. payments are check-based and companies around the world struggle to access finance and payments, Tradeshift Pay is a real enabler for the digitally connected economy.”