Solana Weekly #91 - How AgriDex is Transforming Agricultural Trade on Solana with Omar Anwar

Guest: Omar Anwar from AgriDex Host: Thomas Bahamas

What is Agridex?

• Digital marketplace built on Solana that offers instant, low-cost settlements for agricultural trades

• Uses USDC for transactions with near-instantaneous settlement.

• Reduces transaction costs from 12.4% to 5.8%

• Reduces transaction time from 65 days to 40 days

• B2B focused platform, not for retail users

Key Problem Being Solved

• Example: Nigerian farmers paying 12.4% in transaction costs to move cocoa to Rotterdam

• Costs include:

  • Sourcing

  • Legal bills

  • Crop certifications

  • Warehousing

  • Shipping

  • Physical inspection

  • Currency conversion (3-6% bank fees)

  • Currency volatility risks

How Agridex Works

1. Onboarding Process:

   • Farmers join through existing supply chain partners or direct application

   • Required documentation for KYB/AML checks

   • Sustainability and crop-specific certifications needed

2. Platform Features:

   • Built-in trust scores for sellers

   • Real-time crop pricing

   • Automated settlement through smart contracts

   • Integration with local currency partners for on/off ramping

3. Transaction Process:

   • Uses Ricardian contracts (human and machine readable)

   • Smart contracts handle automatic settlement

   • Future plans to integrate IoT, AI, and ML for automation

Technical Implementation

• Built on Solana blockchain

• Uses USDC for settlements

• Tokenizes the trade itself rather than the crops

• Creates NFTs of contracts for immutable record-keeping

• Partners help with currency conversion to local currencies

Business Development

• Working with large launch partners like Paragate Group

• Targeting higher levels in supply chain to reach more farmers

• Focus on education and accessibility

• Strong leadership team with agricultural and financial background

• Planning Latin American expansion in future

Upcoming Developments

• Token listing in November

• Features DAO governance

• Staking mechanism with environmental/agricultural development benefits

• Platform moving from beta to full rollout in Q1 2025

• Partnership with Solana Saga and Seeker

• Running airdrop campaigns

Notable Partnership

• Working with Bridge (recently acquired by Stripe for over $1B)

• Demonstrates growing traditional finance acceptance of stablecoins

Legal Framework

• Based in UK, benefiting from UK Electronic Trade Document Act 2023

• Can use English High Court for dispute resolution

• Provides trusted legal framework for international trades

Target Market Response

• High crypto adoption in target markets (claimed 70%+ in Nigeria)

• Farmers showing interest in digital solutions

• Need for simple, intuitive interface that abstracts blockchain complexity

• Focus on presenting as Web3 solution rather than crypto

Long-term Vision

• Move toward fully decentralized DAO governance

• Expand beyond current markets into Latin America

• Become "Amazon of agricultural trading"

• First transaction completed in July with South African olive oil