ADI Foundation, an institutional gateway enabling public and private sector organizations to adopt blockchain technology and SAGINT, a digital asset developer transforming tangible assets into tradable tokens, today announced a global partnership to bring SAGINT’s Digital Warehouse Receipt technology to ADI Chain, creating a verifiable digital record for critical minerals as they move from producer to warehouse, buyer, and across borders.
Under the agreement, ADI Foundation will serve as SAGINT’s exclusive Channel Participant, helping introduce producers, warehouses, traders and other market participants to the SAGINT network across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and other markets. The partnership is designed to address one of the most persistent challenges in commodities trade: proving where a material came from, who has held it and who has control over it as it moves through the supply chain.
Ambassador (Ret.) Troy Fitrell, Chief Executive Officer of SAGINT International, said:“As Ambassador to Guinea, and then leading the State Department’s Africa bureau, I saw nations rich in minerals struggle to prove, and to profit from, what they produce. Trust in trade should not depend on a stamp on a piece of paper. With ADI, the proof travels with the material, lot by lot, across every border. Producers can reach finance, lenders and insurers can see what they are backing, and governments can see their own resources clearly.”
Ajay Bhatia, Principal Council Member, ADI Foundation, said: “Trade has never lacked goods. It has lacked proof that travels with them. When that proof moves with the material, finance can follow. Bringing the Digital Warehouse Receipt to ADI Chain gives our network a record that authorized lenders, insurers or customs officers can verify for themselves. As SAGINT’s exclusive Channel Participant worldwide, we look forward to bringing the first organizations onto the network.”
SAGINT’s Digital Warehouse Receipt replaces fragmented paper records with a secure digital record for each lot of material. The system captures information including origin, quantity, custody and assay data, allowing authorized participants to verify the information relevant to them while protecting commercially sensitive data.
By recording these records and associated events on ADI Chain, participants across different markets can rely on a shared, verifiable record rather than separate documents held by individual counterparties. The result is intended to make critical minerals easier to finance, insure and trade by increasing confidence in the assets underlying those transactions.
The opportunity is significant. The International Energy Agency valued the global market for key energy-transition minerals at approximately USD 325 billion in 2023. At the same time, access to trade finance remains constrained: the Asian Development Bank estimates the global trade finance gap at USD 2.5 trillion, while the African Development Bank estimates unmet trade finance demand in Africa at between USD 74 billion and USD 92 billion.
The partnership also supports ADI Foundation’s work with the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to develop digital trade infrastructure across Africa, including infrastructure designed to improve verification of trade documentation and expand businesses’ ability to access financing against inventory and other certified assets.
SAGINT has issued Digital Warehouse Receipts for production material since January 2026, beginning with refined rare earth oxide produced by ReElement Technologies.
