14.07.2020

Wave FAQ

General Q&A

● Which documents does Wave support?

○ Wave supports all types of documents including all Bills, Certificates and other documents

required for trade and trade finance.

● Which type of trade finance tools can use documents over Wave?

○ Wave allows the exchange of all documents for all purposes - documentary credit, collections,

receivables are just examples of the trade finance tools that are supported by the network.

● Can Wave support Split B/L?

○ Yes, Wave mirrors the paper based process and can provide the digital alternative to all the

possibilities available with paper.

● Can documents be amended on Wave?

○ Yes, Wave mirrors the business process that the industry is used to. Amending a document

over the Wave network works exactly the same as with paper but much faster.

● Who sees my documents?

○ Only the recipient of your documents. WAVE as a company has no visibility to the envelope’s

content. Wave does not store the documents on their servers.

General Q&A

● Are electronic signatures incorporated in the system?

○ Yes, during the activation of the Wave application the user generates their own electronic

signatures that are used to sign, endorse, add signed comments and surrender electronic

documents.

● Why are you using the blockchain?

○ Wave uses the blockchain to track and manage the originality and title of the documents over

the blockchain. The decentralized architecture of the network ensures that any party holding

the possession or title of a document has the same level of control as with paper documents.

● Do I need to change my normal internal or external workflow?

○ No, Wave is designed to allow all parties to keep their exact same workflow but in an electronic

format.

● Can Wave be used remotely?

○ Yes, Wave can be used from any computer based on the organization IT infrastructure. The

Wave support team will be happy to help your IT team to enable a secure connection between

the Wave application to the operators.

General Q&A Continued

● Does Wave supports the eUCP600?

○ Yes, Wave is compliant with the eUCP600 rules.

● How do I surrender a Bill of Lading?

○ As with paper B/L, Wave users that hold both the possession and title over a document and

have the legal right to surrender a BL will have the option to also do so electronically.

● How do I perform KYC?

○ Your Wave application will always clearly indicate if the envelope / document / signature was

issued and received from a known source. A known source is considered to be ‘known’ only

when you add their Wave address to your contact list based on your KYC policies.

● Can Wave be used remotely?

○ Yes, Wave can be used from any computer based on the organization IT infrastructure. The

Wave support team will be happy to help your IT team to enable a secure connection between

the Wave application to the operators.

● How can I present the documents to Customs?

○ Every customs around the world has its own requirements and policies, in order to get a

specific specific information on an individual jurisdiction, please contact the Wave support

team.

General Q&A Continued

● What does a document look like in Wave?

○ The same as a regular document. The only difference is that the title or endorsements transfers

digitally and are done separately with complete visibility in a digital manner – not on the back of

the document

● Do I need to integrate Wave into my back office?

○ No. Wave can be used as stand-alone or integrated. If the volume of transactions justifies it,

there is value in building an API (Application Programming Interface) to manage your workflow

and transactions.

● Why choose Wave?

○ There are several conventional (non-blockchain) and blockchain solutions. Wave is the most

sustainable – simple to use with carrier, legal, security and insurance backing, and at minimal

cost.

● How much will Wave cost me and my customers?

○ Wave provides unlimited and free sending and receiving of electronic envelops as well as

adding of invoices, packing lists and other documents which can be sent by email / swift and

more. Original documents such as bills, certificates, guarantees, etc requires an issuing fee.

General Q&A Continued

● Will an eB/L be acceptable in China?

○ Yes. You will be able to upload your eB/L with your other documents to the China International

Trade Single Window application.

● How do I print or save my documents?

○ Once you open your digital envelope, you will have the possibility to print, save or upload other

documents.

● Can I have a demonstration?

○ Of course, we will be happy to schedule you a demo session

● Who is Wave and what is Wave?

○ Wave is owned by OGYDocs, Inc. Wave uses blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT) to

connect all members of the supply chain to a decentralized network and to allow them a direct

exchange of documents (files). WAVE completed its first transaction with Barclays bank in 2016.

● Is Wave secure?

○ Wave’s solution protects privacy, ensures data and/or documents remain unchanged, ensures

each transaction is encrypted and authenticated and that a party cannot deny having received

the envelope. Approved by the International Group of P&I Clubs.

General Q&A Continued

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET● List of Indian Banks (private and nationalised) currently using Wave in handling export

documentation ( As per UCP guidelines internationally approved by ICC).

○ Since WAVE is just making headway into the Indian Market, several Indian Banks are indeed on

discussions with WAVE for onboarding. Examples: HSBC, SBI, HDFC, ICICI, STANDARTCHART,

KOTAK, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, USBank, CITI Bank. WAVE is eUCP600 compliant

● Wave is approved by GOI, RBI, FEMA, Ministry of Finance, DGFT and other statutory government

agencies?

○ Every Customs around the world have their own requirements & policies. Please refer to

excerpts from the Shipping Secretary – MOS to the commerce ministry, wherein WAVE has

been specified along with other service providers such as CargoX, TradeLens, Bolero.

● List of countries where this process is currently adopted?

○ WAVE is structured to be "borderless" and have worldwide coverage

● Legal validity of this process as per Indian law

○ Wave ByLaws has been built to fully comply with the International Trade rules set in the English

COGSA-1992 law.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● Additional details on security of data (information flowing in encrypted format)

○ Each Wave Contact has an RSA private-public key pair. When sending an envelope from Wave

Contact A to Wave Contact B, Wave Contact A will encrypt the envelope using an AES key and

will encrypt the AES key using Wave Contact B's public key and transfer the encrypted

envelope directly to Wave Contact B. Wave Contact B will decrypt the AES key using his private

key and will decrypt the envelope using the AES key.

● Contract details between Wave and MSC

○ Customer’s contract with MSC remains unchanged. Wave acts as a Service Document provider.

Customer needs to accept the Wave application Terms and Conditions as stated in the Wave

Bylaws document.

● If a B/L is sent to wrong recipient (different person), that recipient will be able to see all

information/details mentioned in the B/L?

○ WAVE B/L flows in an Envelope to the Designated party only via the trusted and verified

Contact ID in the Wave network, hence there is no risk that the document can get into wrong

hands. Please note that one of the parties might send it to a different recipient than the one

that should receive the document. As an electronic courier provider, Wave cannot prevent this

action.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● How will MSC/Wave bring all stakeholders (forwarder, shipper, carrier, shipper's banks, buyers

bank, Buyer, etc.) on this platform?

○ Every Shipper must invite their trading partners in the deal, the Seller Bank, the Buyer Bank,

Forwarder etc. along with the Carrier, to join the Wave network, so all parties can send/receive

their electronic documents seamlessly and securely via Wave.

● Is there any kind of registration required, like user id and password?

○ After the registration process with Wave, and after accepting the Bylaws, you will be receiving

the details (username and password) to access your Wave account and finish the setup.

● Will the carrier provide the original B/L’s stationery for customer to print in their office?

○ There is no hard copy stationary involved. eBL is an electronic BL meaning it is paperless.

● Normally, we affix the “revenue stamp” on the B/L. For eBL, how you can manage without

“Revenue stamp”?

○ Endorsing the BL with Digital Signatures is possible. Since there is no hard copy/paper version,

Revenue Stamp is not required.

● Any changes for B/L fee (reduce / increase)?

○ Check with your MSC Agency for additional information on charges related to MSC.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● What is procedure for OBL print at destination?

○ eBL moves digitally between all the parties and hence once the OBL is in possession of carrier

at POD, the cargo will be released against payment of all charges.

● When is the cutoff date for release the OBL by the carrier?

○ No changes in cutoff dates. The dates remain the same as in the paper process

● How many days the eBL is available in website, once it is posted?

○ Once the carrier sends the eB/L electronically to your inbox in Wave, it remains under your

possession until you transfer it to another party.

● What information is required by an Exporter / Importer at the activation stage?

○ Wave V-CARDS (identity contact card) of all customers must be exchanged prior to the first

application use. Digital BL will only flow between these registered / authorized parties involved

in the specific shipment chain.

● How will the banks at Origin and Destination be enrolled?

○ WAVE has already initiated evaluation with numerous banks worldwide. Customers are

required to introduce their Specific Point of contact (POC) for each of their Banks at POL and

POD. Subsequently WAVE will take it from there and complete the onboarding process.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● How long will the registration completion process take?

○ Registration form has basic "know your customer" details for which activation takes no more

than 5-10 mins. Once the registration form is filled and all the participants in the trade lane are

onboarded, the option to use WAVE can start within 24 to 48 hours.

● Any costs involved for registration by Customer / Banks?

○ No cost to customer & their trading partners for registering in WAVE. Check with your MSC

Agency for additional information on charges related to MSC. For charges regarding Wave

usage, please contact Wave Sales Team.

● Any prior agreements need to be signed?

○ Only the "WAVE Bylaws" which is just a formal digitally approved acceptance to be made by the

Customer stating that: 1) their documents in Wave are treated as Originals (as good as Original

Hard Copies), 2) acceptance of eBL documents through Wave is as good as the legal

document, in line to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992, which is currently used for

Negotiable Hard copy MSC Bill of Lading.

● Can we obtain Hard Copy Paper B/L when required by local Customs?

○ Upon electronic B/L surrender, if the Customs require hardcopy of the Original document, the

same can be arranged through respective country POD agency offices.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● Initial familiarization & Handholding in the Wave application

○ In terms of initial hand holding, Wave team will personally be involved in assisting customers for

their transaction, resolving and answering queries.

● Can endorsements be handled in WAVE?

○ Customers have the flexibility to endorse and send documents as easily as an email, including

blank endorsements. Just add a recipient, an attachment, and click “send” to transfer

possession

● Can there be multiple levels of authorization in the same organization of shipper w.r.t. transfer of

documents ? i.e. (a) authorized to only receive but cannot transfer documents ? (b) is authorized

to receive as well as transfer documents?

○ Yes, users in each Contact (organization) can be associated to different roles: ISSUER (which

means, they can Issue any document); USER (read only, no rights to issue).

● What is the possibility to handle House Bill of Lading (HBL) in Wave?

○ Wave is designed for issuance of OBL, by carrier or by NVOCC. It can be a Master BL or HBL. In

case there is an HBL, MSC will notify the customer to receive Master BL on WAVE, then the

forwarder / NVOCC will use his WAVE application for issuance of their HBL. Ideally the

Forwarder / NVOCC will have a separate agreement made with WAVE.

General Q&A – INDIAN MARKET Continued● Some liner are issue the ebl to us, and we can give the print out within (some seconds), if we

missed to take the print, the system automatically going to lock, is there any kind of system are

you going to use? – (Customer prints BL on their premises)

○ The electronic bill of lading is paperless, meaning that there is no printing on paper

● Main benefits to the customer?

○ Huge costs savings in terms of manpower required to collect & deliver B/Ls from carrier, avoid

Courier costs, avoid huge delays – processing time in WAVE is less than 4 minutes, avoid Loss

of documents, avoid Fraud, Counterfeiting, and can be handled remotely from anywhere

Security Q&A

Confidentiality Q&A● Does Wave store documents in a central location?

○ No. Each Wave application stores received and sent documents locally.

● I understand that Wave uses blockchain technology, does that mean that all business

transactions are publicly available?

○ No. All blockchain addresses are used only once and cannot be linked to the organization

behind the address by analyzing the blockchain ledger, only a document holder can translate

those transactions

● Are documents encrypted while in transport?

○ All documents transferred between Wave applications are encrypted using a combination of

symmetric and asymmetric keys. Documents are encrypted in a manner such that only the

recipient and no one else can decrypt the document

● Can Wave access my private data?

○ No. Wave as a company does not have any access to customer documents

● Can Wave access my private keys?

○ No. Private keys are generated by the local Wave application and not sent to Wave as a

company

Integrity Q&A● How can I be sure that a title document I have received in Wave hasn't been changed from

issuance?

○ Upon issuance, the issuer signs the title document with their own private key which embeds a

reference of this signature in the issuance blockchain transaction. Each future holder of the

document or even an entity that holds a copy of the title document can verify that the

document hasn’t been changed from issuance by using the public key embedded in the issuers

contact and the issuance blockchain transaction.

● How can I be sure that a surrendered document will not be used again?

○ After the surrendering of a document, the issuer has the ability to send a copy of the

surrendered document with an added surrender acceptance signature, this signature will be

validated only if the possession has been revoked.

● Is there a way for 3rd party or hacker to modify or remove signatures from a document?

○ A hacker can remove signed copy signatures just like any user, as those signatures are

detachable by design. However a hacker can not modify or remove a unique signature without

affecting its validity because unique signatures contain a blockchain reference. A hacker can

remove the signature itself but not the blockchain reference.

Architecture & Availability Q&A● Where does Wave keep my private keys?

○ Currently private keys are stored in the database. If your organization dictates that private keys

should be stored elsewhere (smart card/HSM/KMS/etc.) please contact our support team.

● Does Wave support decoupling of sensitive and insensitive services when installing Wave in a

segmented network architecture?

○ Yes. There is a decoupling between the Wave Core and the Wave Transport Agent. The

Transport Agent is internet facing (e.g. in a DMZ) and receives incoming connections. The Wave

Core does not receive incoming connections and should reside in the internal network. The

Wave Core is connecting to the Transport Agent directly or via queue for sending and receiving

data from the Transport Agent.

● Does Wave support High Availability?

○ Yes. The Wave Core, Transport Agent and blockchain wallets are highly available. In order to

achieve full high availability, Wave should be integrated to a highly available database, storage

and queues.

Architecture & Availability Q&A Continued● What kind of mechanisms are implemented to cope with DOS attacks on my own Wave or on

Wave network services?

○ Wave handshake protocol consists of a DOS (Denial Of Service) prevention mechanism that is

based on Proof-of-Work (PoW). Subsequent calls will result in a higher PoW difficulty which will

cause longer wait periods between calls. A handshake is performed on all Wave to Wave

communications and Wave to Wave network services communications

Non-Repudiation Q&A● How can I be sure that a possession transfer can not be repudiated by the receiving part?

○ Before transferring a possession on a unique document the sending side requests a blockchain

address from the receiving side, the receiving side digitally signs on the generated blockchain

address and sends the signed address to the sending side. Because the receiving side signed

on the address, they cannot repudiate that they gave the address to the sending side. Along

with the possession transfer transaction, there is an undeniable proof for the possession

transfer.

● How can I be sure that a title transfer can not be repudiated by the receiving part?

○ Title transfer is performed by an Endorsement Signature which is a unique undetachable

signature. Unique signatures have a blockchain reference, the receiving part can remove the

signature itself but not the blockchain reference. Along with the possession transfer

transaction, there is an undeniable proof for the title transfer.

Other Q&A● How will Wave cope with 51% attack over the Blockchain?

○ Wave’s blockchain is a permissioned mining blockchain which only permissioned miners can

publish blocks to the network. When detecting a rogue miner, we can immediately block him

from publishing blocks to the network.

● Can anyone be a miner?

○ No, but if you wish to become a miner please refer to our operations team

● Is there a secure way to exchange Wave Contacts?

○ Yes. Wave contact verification is a process which is handled directly between two Wave users

and its purpose is to verify that the contact you have imported to Wave is the contact of the

user you are communicating with via phone/email/SMS/other communications.

● Can Wave block a document from being issued or on transport?

○ No. When a document is being issued the only check that is performed by Wave services is a

check that the organization has enough document issue tokens. Wave never checks the

content of the file before issuance. When transporting an existing document which has already

been issued, there is no check by Wave services upon forwarding of this document.

Other Q&A Continued● How can I be sure that Wave is secure and that the code is not vulnerable?

○ Wave has been designed and developed by information security professionals

○ Information security elements are checked through all phases of development and design of all

Wave features

○ Wave is periodically tested for vulnerabilities by 3rd party PT professionals

● How does Wave cope with the loss or theft of my private key?

○ When you suspect that your organization private key has been compromised, you need to

contact us immediately so we can update all networks of the revocation of your organization

and contacts that have been created under your organization.

Legal Q&A

● What documents govern the relations between all Wave users?

○ The Wave Bylaws is the legal document that defines the roles, rights and liabilities of all users

between themselves, setting contractual obligations between all in regarding of issued

documents any other usage of the network.

● What are the rules of Issuance and Endorsement and how does the transfer of rights and

liabilities work?

○ Wave has been built to fully imitate the rules set in the English COGSA-1992 law. The bylaws

are governed by the laws of England giving exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of London, UK.

● Do the Wave Bylaws affect the contract of carriage or commercial dealing somehow?

○ No, the contract of carriage entered by the carrier is the same one used for paper bills of

lading, governed by the same applicable law and regulation that applies to that carrier. The

Wave Bylaws strictly addresses the transfer of documents and not any the commercial dealing

between the parties

● Do bills of lading issued on Wave have P&I coverage?

○ As of December 2019, P&I Liability over a Wave bill of lading is exactly the same as of a paper

bill of lading as the International group has fully approved the Wave network and bylaws.

● What does a b/l issued on wave look like?

○ Exactly the same, including both the front and back page (the contract of carriage itself). The

Issuer is required to add the wording ‘Issued electronically on Wave’.

● What is the difference between Wave and other digital solution legal infrastructure?

○ As Wave is a P2P network, without a central data server or central ledger the service provider’s

role is significantly minor. Leading to:

■ Decisive rules for of transferring possession and title without the need of active

acceptance of the recipient.

■ No need for Wave or the Issuer to act as a ‘contractual agent’ for the change of rights and

liabilities upon transfer of possession and title, therefore no need for novation and

attornment mechanisms, thus, providing full legal certainty.

● What is Wave’s privacy policy and is there any confidential information of a user that could be

exposed the service provider ?

○ Wave’s privacy policy follows the wave solution architecture designating all information to be

sent P2P without passing through a central server, strictly pseudo-identifying the users by using

one time random addresses. Wave basic onboarding does not require registration.

● Are their jurisdictions that Wave can not be used at ?

○ As Wave is based on contractual obligations between all potential parties, there is no need for

a state law enabling the using of electronic bills of lading, nevertheless such laws wherever

exist tend to generate awareness which helps viral adaptation. The main obstacle digitization

is at countries where the customs still require presentation of a physical paper bill, but this is

disappearing more and more from day today as the COVID-19 Crises extends.

● Whats makes an electronic document on Wave to be legally deemed as an original?

○ That all parties using Wave from the Issuer through the exporter, importer and banks, all agree

in the bylaws to respect the definition of an original on Wave and not challenge the originality

of an Issued document on Wave outside of Wave in courts.

Thank You !