Blockchain supply chain startup Sweetbridge has joined the Accord Project, an initiative for smart legal contracts.

Launched in July 2017, the Accord Project provides a standard specification and framework for the implementation of legally-enforceable smart contracts that is based off industry standards for transactional legal practice and dispute resolution. It counts over 50 leading law firms as well as leading enterprise blockchain platforms such as IBM Blockchain, R3’s Corda, and Agreements Network among its members and collaborators.

The partnership would help integrate blockchain-native assets with existing physical world legal infrastructure, thereby facilitating the mainstream commercial adoption of blockchain-based protocols and assets.

With this membership, Sweetbridge would be able to leverage the programmatic legal contract functionality in its blockchain protocol. This would help in developing blockchain-based commercial contract agreements that facilitate trade finance transactions, such as staking receivables and inventories as collateral for providing liquidity and working capital.

“In order to effectively use blockchain in business operations globally, smart contracts must be legally enforceable and binding in jurisdictions worldwide. The Accord Project equips Sweetbridge customers with the necessary tools to efficiently and seamlessly carry out essential business transactions, bridging the old and new worlds, making this a hugely important milestone in the progression of our trade financing platform,” Sweetbridge CEO and Chairman Scott Nelson said.

Mattereum, a legal-technical interface for blockchain assets and an existing Sweetbridge Alliance member, already provides support for dispute resolution on the network.

In its official release, Sweetbridge said that the use of smart legal contracts will help it unlock new forms of economic value from the agreements and assets it controls. The open source Accord Project technology enables legal agreements such as sales contracts, financial instruments, and others to be modeled on top of the Sweetbridge protocols that perform atomic accounting, management of digital assets, and other functionalities for trade finance applications. In addition to network participants themselves, law firms and others will be able to provide contracts that interface with the network and support their clients and business partners.