{
  "id": 1608883,
  "title": "Vietnam and Singapore advance Verifiable Credentials for Cross Border Trade",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/vietnam-and-singapore-advance-verifiable-credentials-for-cross-border",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-18T01:51:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Vietnam Investment Review",
    "slug": "vietnam-investment-review",
    "url": "https://vir.com.vn/vietnam-and-singapore-advance-verifiable-credentials-for-cross-border-trade-158878.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On August 16, Vietnam-based PILA Technologies and Singapore-based TOTM Technologies announced a collaboration to establish a digital verification system for cross-border transactions. This framework, built on the IMDA's TradeTrust platform, aims to reduce verification costs and enhance trust among businesses, financial institutions, and regulatory authorities. The first project under this collaboration will focus on Letters of Credit (L/Cs) between banks in Vietnam and Singapore, utilizing Verifiable Credentials (VCs) as a trust layer alongside existing L/C workflows. This approach enables the immediate verification of L/C information and the integrity of documents, potentially reducing manual document reconciliation and verification times. VCs are designed solely as a verification mechanism, preserving existing legal frameworks, banking procedures, and payment obligations. The partnership envisions broader applications, including Digital Product Passports and Cross-Border Payment Settlement infrastructure, as part of ASEAN's broader Digital Economy Framework Agreement.",
  "summary": "PILA Vietnam and TOTM Technologies Singapore have signed an MoU to jointly advance the development of Cross border Digital Trust Infrastructure across ASEAN",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}