The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) requires that States Parties report annually on the transfer of chemicals listed under the Convention as part of ongoing efforts to prevent the re-emergence of chemical weapons programs. States report aggregate national data to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), where the Technical Directorate does the challenging work of matching imports with exports.
The Monitoring and Tracking Chemicals (MATCH) project is a prototype software system that will attempt to address fundamental challenges to reconciling transfer data for commonly traded Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 chemicals by establishing a secure, authoritative distributed ledger to simulate transfers between hypothetical States Parties.
The MATCH project began in September 2021 and the second iteration of project development will conclude in January 2025. The MATCH 2.0 proof-of-concept is being developed with financial contribution by Global Affairs Canada’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program.
Using Distributed Ledger Technology to resolve chemical trade discrepancies under the Chemical Weapons Convention
May 15, 2025
Testing next generation distributed ledger technology (DLT) for secure, accurate tracking of dual-use chemicals, detection of discrepancies, and mitigation of proliferation risks
November 4, 2024
May 21, 2024
MATCH ‘2.0’ expands and refines Stimson’s DLT proof-of-concept as a basis for demonstration and discussion with chemical industry and national authorities
January 25, 2024
MATCH demonstrates how blockchain can reconcile discrepancies in dual-use chemical trade and reduce the risk of chemical weapons proliferation
July 25, 2023
Elimination of the world’s last declared chemical weapons stockpile still leaves plenty of work to do to prevent proliferation
July 21, 2023
An overview of how the MATCH proof-of-concept applies DLT to identify and reduce discrepancies in dual-use chemical trade
June 29, 2023
Discrepancies in declared quantities of dual-use chemicals transferred internationally are a growing problem – but blockchain technology may offer a solution
March 30, 2023