A web3 startup aims to change the game in the tariff wars

With President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs coming out today — a day he is calling “Liberation Day” — a Web3 startup thinks it could track tariffs automatically on goods coming into and out of the USA using its blockchain platform. The claim may well be bold — and typical of many such bold claims made by other Web3 startups. However, Watr‘s platform is already being used to validate commodities by large mining companies and auto manufacturers, so there may be more to the claim than meets the eye. Created by former Shell, BP, and J.P. Morgan executives, the company is headed by Maryam Ayati, who lead global origination and investment at Shell Trading — so she ought to know what she’s talking about. Watr counts investors from a syndicate of thus-far unnamed crypto VCs and commodity executives, but TechCrunch has seen evidence to suggest that it has several millions of dollars in backing already, and a number of, as yet unnamed, commodities giants. Said Ayati over a call: “We ... Read full article.