Watr taps Avalanche to bring $20t commodities market onchain

Watr, a blockchain infrastructure platform eyeing the $20 trillion global commodities industry, is set to tap into the blockchain features of the Avalanche network for traction.

Watr announced the move to Avalanche (AVAX) on April 3 via a press release shared with crypto.news.

According to the plaform, migration to the layer 1 blockchain allows for the application of institutional-grade infrastructure and decentralized finance liquidity across real-world supply chains. 

The strategic partnership between the two platforms will bring commodities trading and financing onchain, giving users access to the global commodity trade, including metals, minerals, food, and fuel.

“Despite being a $20 trillion industry, real-world assets like commodities have barely scratched the surface of onchain adoption,” said John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs. “Avalanche is built for this exact moment—with sovereign chains, low latency, and institutional-grade performance.”

Created by web3 and commodities pioneers from Shell and JP Morgan, Watr has gained recognition as a platform designed to digitize the commodity finance and trading space.

The team says it selected Avalanche not only for its thriving developer ecosystem, but also due to its growing adoption among financial giants such as JP Morgan and Citibank.

Watr aims to combine Avalanche’s performance with its own features, including decentralized identity, traceability, and composable smart contracts, to accelerate onchain adoption in commodity markets.

“Established Web3 concepts such as DeFi, Decentralized Identity, and smart contracts can address fundamental constraints in commodity financing, compliance, and trade,” said Maryam Ayati, founder and president of Watr Foundation. “Building with Avalanche allows us to leapfrog the development cycle and leverage its ecosystem’s size and security to decisively take on this opportunity.”

Watr leverages its tech stack, including WatrMrks for end-to-end traceability and WatrIDs for decentralized identities tailored to professionals, businesses, and institutions. The platform also utilizes NeoReserves for liquidity pools and VentureStream, a launchpad and investment hub for commodity-tech startups.