02-09-2026
In the foto, from left to right: Ricardo Martins (Chief Crypto Officer, Bison Bank), Pedro Silva Caldeira (Doctoral Researcher at NOVA FCT), António Henriques (CEO Bison Bank), José Rodrigues (Director Materials Management, Navigator), Bárbara Marques (Head of Costumer Service, Bison Bank).
The NOVA School of Science and Technology | NOVA FCT, The Navigator Company, and Bison Bank are partners in a research project dedicated to evaluating digital settlement solutions applied to international trade.
The pilot project is being developed by UNIDEMI, NOVA FCT's research unit in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, with Pedro Silva Caldeira as principal researcher, under the supervision of António Grilo. The research analyzes, in a progressive, controlled, and measurable way, the potential of an infrastructure based on digital or tokenized currency, pegged to fiat currency, applied to a real international procurement operation between The Navigator Company and an international supplier. The study will examine the effects on payments, financial reconciliation, transaction traceability, liquidity management, and the integration of programmable mechanisms.
Settlement corresponds to the effective discharge of a financial obligation and the transfer of funds between parties. Despite growing digitalization among companies, this process remains dependent on fragmented infrastructures and multiple intermediaries. In international trade, the coexistence of different jurisdictions, currencies, and banking systems worsens this complexity, generating slow payments, high costs, reduced visibility, and capital immobilization.
Digital assets pegged to fiat currency could reduce these frictions, enabling faster, traceable, and more predictable value transfers, without compromising the stability required by business transactions. One of the project's most innovative aspects is the analysis of programmable settlement through mechanisms such as smart contracts, linking financial movement to the events that trigger it and reducing manual tasks, delays, and reconciliation errors.
The adoption of these solutions, however, faces challenges related to interoperability, regulation, security, and integration with existing systems, compounded by factors of trust and acceptance among participants. Technological feasibility alone does not guarantee adoption or value creation: these solutions must be investigated with scientific rigor, identifying the benefits, risks, and obstacles that condition a secure implementation.
Due to its applied nature and its combination of scientific, industrial, and financial expertise, the project is pioneering in Portugal, seeking to generate evidence capable of supporting future decisions by companies, financial institutions, policymakers, and other participants in international trade.
Faster, more transparent, programmable, and accessible settlement infrastructures could reduce the costs of participating in international trade, facilitate companies' access to global markets, and strengthen the ability of Portuguese companies to compete in global markets.
