A late delivery, an off-spec batch, a customs rejection: bilateral deals turn these into multi-month legal disputes. Michael compresses the same disagreements into a graduated resolution process. The contract carries that process from day one.
The Difference
Formal arbitration takes a median of ~25 months to final award (ICC Dispute Resolution Statistics, 2023). That friction is real enough that many high-value swaps do not happen.
A design target for the large majority of cases. The contract carries the process. Nobody negotiates it after the fact.
How It Works
Every dispute starts at the fastest, cheapest tier and only escalates if the disagreement genuinely needs more scrutiny. Tier timelines are process design targets.
Handles structured disputes like delivery delay, volume shortfall, and payment delay by pulling data directly from logistics records, VerifyHub, and escrow state. Target: the large majority auto-resolved without human involvement.
Handles quality defects and specification interpretation disputes. The platform selects a credentialed sector-specific expert with anti-repeat weighting and conflict-of-interest screening. The expert reviews the evidence and issues a determination.
Reserved for complex or high-value cases. It runs under recognised commercial arbitration rules: ICC, LCIA, GAFTA or FOSFA. It has the same enforceability as a bilateral contract, without the multi-year timeline.
Within-band misses never become disputes. A deal can declare variance bands for quantity, quality and delivery date. A measured miss inside the band re-prices by formula at filing. There is no frozen escrow and no dispute penalty.
Built In, Not Bolted On
Release needs every elected condition to pass: survey, CoA, documents. The platform mediates only when a party contests one.
Hash-anchored evidence and audit events on every state transition
Where cover is mandatory, goods lift only with bound insurance or explicit both-sides risk sign-off
Standardised governing law on every contract — negotiation time goes to economics, not choice of law
Related
Request a walkthrough and see the dispute ladder on a staged swap.