Azaka-Protocol/Azaka-contracts

Decentralised Trade Finance for African SME Exporters # Azaka — Decentralised Trade Finance for African SME Exporters Azaka digitises the Letter of Credit process for small exporters. An importer locks payment into a smart contract escrow at deal creation. When authorised third parties (freight forwarders, inspection companies, port authorities) submit and sign the required shipping documents on-chain, the escrow releases payment automatically to the exporter in stablecoins — cutting settlement from 90 days to hours and eliminating correspondent bank fees. ## The Problem African SME exporters face systemic barriers in international trade: - **90-day payment cycles**: Traditional Letters of Credit take 60–90 days to settle - **8–15% transaction fees**: Correspondent banking fees eat into already thin margins - **Exclusion from banking**: Many African SMEs cannot access trade finance from international banks - **Document fraud risk**: Paper-based document verification is slow and vulnerable to tampering Azaka solves this by moving the entire LC lifecycle on-chain, with cryptographic document verification and instant stablecoin settlement. ## Architecture ``` azaka-contracts/ ├── contracts/ # Soroban smart contracts │ ├── trade/ # Trade contract (LC lifecycle) │ │ └── src/lib.rs │ ├── escrow/ # Escrow contract (stablecoin custody) │ │ └── src/lib.rs │ ├── document/ # Document contract (hash verification) │ │ └── src/lib.rs │ └── registry/ # Registry contract (participant management) │ └── src/lib.rs │ ├── sdk/ # Client SDKs │ └── typescript/ # TypeScript SDK │ ├── src/ │ │ ├── client.ts # Main Azaka client │ │ ├── bank-client.ts # Bank-specific client │ │ ├── types.ts # Type definitions │ │ └── index.ts │ └── package.json │ ├── docs/ # Documentation │ ├── architecture.md # System architecture …