Skip to content

AXK is live: verification and settlement for commodity trade across the Global South.Request a briefing

AXK Network
Protocol

The rules every trade on AXK follows.

AXK models each trade as a sequence of signed events that move it through a fixed set of states. Payment moves only when evidence allows it, every step is recorded, and a small set of invariants holds for every trade, rail and currency.

Read the docsSee a trade in the ledger
Event chain

Seven events from verified trade to receipt.

Each event names the actor with authority to emit it. Nothing later in the chain can happen before the event in front of it.

  1. 01 · Verifier

    TradeVerified

    Contract terms accepted, counterparties screened, origin, inspection and custody evidence checked against the contract.

  2. 02 · Buyer · approver

    ObligationApproved

    A payment obligation with one stable reference is approved by a separate authority from the one that created it.

  3. 03 · Partner bank

    FundingConfirmed

    Funds are confirmed received by the licensed institution holding them, matched to the obligation.

  4. 04 · AXK Settle

    SettlementSubmitted

    Instructions go to the selected rail with an idempotency key derived from the obligation.

  5. 05 · Payment provider

    ProviderFinalityConfirmed

    The bank, mobile-money operator or settlement network confirms final, irreversible completion.

  6. 06 · AXK Ledger

    RecipientReconciled

    Provider statements are matched per beneficiary; balanced postings close the obligation.

  7. 07 · AXK

    ReceiptIssued

    A receipt with the full event chain and document hashes is issued to every party entitled to see it.

State machine

A payment is always in exactly one state.

Uncertain is a first-class state. A timeout never becomes a failure, and never triggers a blind retry.

  1. Draft
  2. Accepted
  3. Verified
  4. Approved
  5. Funded
  6. Submitted
  7. Final
  8. Reconciled
Submitted → Final

Provider confirms completion. The ledger posts and reconciliation begins.

Submitted → Uncertain

No answer or a timeout. AXK queries the original provider and reconciles statements before anything else happens.

Submitted → Failed

Only a confirmed failure. Retries reuse the same idempotency key and may route to another eligible rail.

Invariants

Eight rules that hold for every trade.

INV-01

Balanced postings

Every journal entry nets to zero per currency and legal entity, in integer minor units.

INV-02

One obligation, one payment

Idempotency keys derive from the obligation and beneficiary, so a retry can never create a second payment.

INV-03

Uncertain is not failed

A timeout moves a payment to Uncertain. Only the original provider's answer or statement can resolve it.

INV-04

Separation of duties

The actor who creates an obligation can never approve it. Overrides need two named approvers and a reason.

INV-05

Append-only history

Events and postings are never edited. Corrections are new compensating events that reference the original.

INV-06

Evidence before release

Payment cannot move to Submitted until every condition in the contract's document set is verified.

INV-07

Consent-scoped disclosure

Evidence leaves a party's scope only with its consent, an access log, an expiry and a revocation path.

INV-08

Funds stay with licensed partners

AXK never holds customer money. Positions in the ledger always reconcile to a licensed institution's records.

Architecture

Five layers, one record.

Each layer can be used on its own through the API, and all of them write to the same trade record.

  1. L5ExperienceWeb workspace, mobile field capture with offline sync, USSD and SMS for producers, partner APIs.
  2. L4Trade & evidenceContracts, documents, inspection and custody events, compliance evidence packs, consent and disclosure.
  3. L3Obligations & ledgerPayment obligations, allocations, double-entry journal, reconciliation and exception handling.
  4. L2Settlement orchestrationRail selection, ISO 20022 instructions, provider adapters, finality tracking and webhook delivery.
  5. L1IntegrityDocument hashing, signed events, append-only audit trail and optional public anchoring of integrity references.

BoundaryThe ledger and reconciliation do not depend on any blockchain. Stablecoin settlement is one rail among several, used where a licensed partner and local regulation permit. Optional public anchoring carries integrity references only, never commercial or personal data.

Request a briefing