SSSB: An Approach to Insurance for Cross-Border Exchange by Using Smart Contracts

Abstract

Traditional commercial systems face many problems in terms of transportation, information latency, and reliability, thus affecting the whole process. Blockchain technology and smart contracts have been seen as a panacea for these problems. Specifically, all information about packages, orders, and ties between relevant parties (i.e., seller and buyer) is stored in a distributed ledger. Thereby, the seller and the buyer can access the necessary information about their package. However, the most significant difference between the international trading system and the rest is the need for an arbitrator/third party (i.e., a middleman) to judge when there is a conflict between the seller and the buyer (e.g., the bank provides the letter of credit). Setting up the rules/policies is essential during the order/package creation. It helps the middleman issue penalty fees if the stakeholders violate the constraints in the contract. Due to the above reasons, this paper introduces a system based on blockchain and smart contracts named Safe Seller Safe Buyer (SSSB) system as an approach to insurance for cross-border exchange. This article also implements SSSB on the three common platforms currently supporting Ethereum’s ERC20, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Fantom. By evaluating the actual implementation of the Gas, SSSB has the cheapest fee when installed on the Fantom platform. We provide the implementation/deployment of smart contracts on the three platforms to encourage further research on this topic.