Buyer Perspective
The situation
We need 100 × 40′ containers of Edma Safe Plus nitrile gloves delivered to multiple DCs. The old route was a Letter of Credit, months of emails, and cash blocked for 60–90 days. We wan one rule instead: pay only when proof lands.
Day 0 — Ask once (B1 · RFQ & Bids)
We post a single RFQ with exactly what we need and what we would accept as proof:
Pre-Ship: lot list + COA
On-Board: bill of lading + seal number with photo
Arrival: DC receipt + random QA (shelf-life and damage tolerances)
Verified exporters bid with price, capacity, dates, and their inspection/packing plan. EDMA normalizes the numbers so we compared apples to apples. The fill bar climbs as bids came in. We chose a fractional mix across three exporters and we're at 100%. One click: Award.
Why this felt different: one ask produces real answers; no spreadsheets to stitch 3–5 suppliers into one order.
Day 1 — Award once (B2 · Award & Contract)
EDMA generates one Master Purchase Agreement with schedules for each exporter. The contract carries our spec and the evidence in plain words. We set a simple payout plan of 20/60/20 (Pre-Ship / On-Board / Arrival). No new definitions later; this document becomes the map.
Day 2 — Fund (B3 · Fund the Order)
We wire the 20% that would usually be blocked by our bank when we request an LC and pre-pay the platform fee. EDMA mints a 1:1 on-platform balance and pre-assigns exact slices to each exporter and each milestone. On our screen:
A coverage bar for the whole order, by milestone
For each location: “Locked for you” broken into Pre-Ship / On-Board / Arrival
Funds are visible but locked. Exporters can assign conditional credits inside EDMA (carriers, inspection firms, warehouses) marked funded on proof—useful for booking freight—yet nothing pays off-platform and nothing leaves the rail mid-journey.
We also set a short review window (four hours). If the evidence looks wrong, we can block the release; if we did nothing, it auto-released. We almost never touch it.
Week 1–4 — Proof moves money (B4 · Proof & Release)
At each milestone EDMA looks for exactly what the contract said. When it matched, the stage turned green and the matching slice unlocked the same day. If something slipped, the stage stayed red with a plain-English reason and a fix path.
A few highlights:
Pre-Ship (20%) — lots matched the PO; COA attached; packing + barcodes confirmed. 20% unlocked.
On-Board (60%) — BL issued; seal photo and number matched; voyage visible. 60% unlocked.
Arrival (20%) — DC receipt and QA passed. Final 20% unlocked and the exporter set auto-redeem to bank, so funds left the rail right after completion.
Every payment produced a receipt and a public proof page we could show to finance, audit, or partners.
Moment
What I do
Amount
What EDMA shows me
Day 0 (Award)
Prefund 20% + prepay fee
$1,320,000 (20%) + $33,000 fee
Locked EDSD for Pre-Ship appears (padlocked). Fee ledger = prepaid total.
Day 0→7
Nothing more
—
I can assign a short review window at Pre-Ship; if I do nothing, release auto-fires on proof.
~Day 7 (Pre-Ship passes)
No new wire
—
I receive the EMT confirming that Pre-Ship passes together with the inspection reports.
~Day 8–10 (T-48h to load)
Top-up for On-Board
$5,280,000 (remaining 80%)
Gate opens only when top-up is in; otherwise Pending Funds.
~Day 15 (On-Board passes)
No new wire
—
20% unlocked; fee ledger posts burn for On-Board.
~Day 30 (Arrival passes)
No new wire
—
Final 80% unlocked; fee ledger posts burn for Arrival; program closes.
Fees & burns (simple and visible)
We paid the protocol fee up-front when we funded. EDMA then posted the burn at each milestone:
Rule: 0.5% per paid stage, capped per tranche at $5,000 (≤ $1M), $25,000 ($1–5M), $50,000 (> $5M).
If we paid fees in EDM, EDMA earmarks and burns 50% of each stage’s fee as it paid.
If we paid fees in USD, EDMA converts the burn half to EDM at the milestone and burned then.
The other 50% funded attestors, network ops, builders, and ecosystem per stage.
This deal ($6.6M; 20/60/20):
Pre-Ship (20%): fee $6,600 → burn $3,300
On-Board (60%): fee $19,800 → burn $9,900
Arrival (20%): fee $6,600 → burn $3,300
Total fee: $33,000 (≈ 0.5% of order)
Total burn: $16,500 in EDM (posted per milestone with hashes)
When paid: I prepay the full fee at Day 0 (in EDM or USD). EDMA then books the burn half at each milestone as releases occur; the non-burn half funds attestors, ops, builders, ecosystem per stage.
What I see: a Fee Ledger that reconciles prepaid total → stage burns (hashes) → stage treasury releases.
What we actually look at (the screens that mattered)
Funding sheet: order value, fee paid, stage coverage by exporter
Timeline: green ticks when proof landed, orange flags when anything needed attention
Receipts: one click to CSV/PDF per release, auto-emailed to finance
Public proof pages: shareable links for partners and audit
Fee & burn log: a tidy list of stage burns with hashes
The outcome (what changed for us)
Cash timing: we pay the day proof arrived—not 60 days later. Finance planned by calendar instead of chasing banks.
Disputes: zero. We agree the definitions once, and the rail enforced them without bias.
Total cost: no LC friction on either side. Against our normal program we saved ~$60–100k, while exporters saved ~$30–45k on financing and bank charges.
Auditability: every move left a receipt we could export; EDSD minted and burned 1:1 with $0 outstanding; burns were posted per milestone with hashes.
ESG close (matching the lane; what it costs me)
Shipping footprint (baseline): ~315 tCO₂e (sea + truck, conservative factors)
Round-up retire: 500 tCO₂e to cover the lane with buffer
Typical price points (choose per program/quality):
Low: 500 t × $12 = $6,000 gross • Fee 4% = $240 • Net to suppliers $5,760 • Burn $120
Mid: 500 t × $18 = $9,000 gross • Fee 4% = $360 • Net $8,640 • Burn $180
High: 500 t × $25 = $12,500 gross • Fee 4% = $500 • Net $12,000 • Burn $250
Proof pack: I get a time-stamped retirement receipt with method/region/serials, PoV badge, One-Claim link, and fee/burn lines—ready for ESG/assurance.
What I actually save (vs LC frictions)
LC issuance/confirmation/handling (1.5–2.2% typical on $6.6M): ~$99k–$145k in bank friction I don’t incur.
Working-capital carry drops from 60–90 full-lock days to ~20 order-days equivalent.
Disputes disappear: definitions live in the MPA; EDMA enforces them without bias.
Ops cost falls: fewer emails, no resubmission loops, one funding sheet, one contract, one timeline.
(Ranges are illustrative; your bank terms and exact sailing window set the final deltas.)
Why we’d do it again
One RFQ. One contract. One funding event. Then small, automatic payouts the day the work is proven. Our teams didn’t argue; they worked. Exporters shipped against visible money and got paid on time. We closed the program with clean books and proof we can point to.
Agree once. Fund once. Pay only on proof.
No EMT, no funds.
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