Trust Infrastructure for the Economy of the Future
Why interoperable economic trust matters, and why it needs a neutral coordinating body.
Suggested citation · WITO (2026), Trust Infrastructure for the Economy of the Future, World Interoperable Trust Organization, Geneva.
Abstract
Advanced economies depend on information about objects, whether they be physical or digital, that cannot be established by inspection, and will depend on more of it as supply chains lengthen and as value shifts toward qualities no buyer can examine. The machinery that produces such information is what we term economic trust infrastructure. Like other infrastructure it is costly to build and benefits many beyond those who pay for it.
Drawing on the companion working paper, this paper argues that global economic trust infrastructure is extensively built and that its multiplicity is a strength rather than a defect. What it lacks is openness: the arrangements by which one instrument's verification is recognised by another. The paper sets out the resulting challenges, describes the role a neutral, non-commercial body can play at the connective layer, and frames the questions WITO is putting to the organisations that build and operate the world's trust systems.