How the exchange works
From seed to settlement - where coffee is in its journey, and how every claim is backed.
A trade, end to end
1. Verified at origin
The producer's identity and credentials are checked, the farm plot is located, and the lot's claims are recorded against evidence.
2. Bonded and graded
The coffee is received into the approved DMCC warehouse, graded and quality-checked, and backed bag-for-bag in bonded custody.
3. Payment held safely
When a buyer purchases, their payment is held - committed but not released. The seller knows the funds are there; the buyer's money is protected.
4. Confirmed, then settled together
Only once the warehouse confirms receipt and quality, and the warrant transfers, do payment and ownership change hands together. Neither side can be left short.
The settlement-integrity rule: payment and ownership only ever change hands once the coffee is physically in bonded custody and confirmed - so no one ever pays for coffee that is not there, and no one parts with coffee before the funds are committed.
Three positions, one rule
Bonded
In store at the approved DMCC warehouse, backed bag-for-bag. Only bonded coffee can settle - payment and ownership swap once the warehouse confirms it and the warrant transfers.
Afloat
On the water, with a vessel and an ETA you can track. You can reserve it now; it settles once it arrives and is confirmed into bond.
Forward
Reserved from an upcoming harvest. A forward commitment settles once the coffee is delivered and confirmed into bonded custody - never before.
The digital passport: claimed vs verified
Every lot carries a digital passport - a single, tamper-proof record of what it is and what has been checked. The passport keeps two things clearly apart, so you always know which is which:
Claimed
What the producer states: varietal, process, origin, farm or cooperative, harvest year, elevation and quantity. Useful context, presented as a claim.
Verified
What has been independently checked: the cupping grade, the quality analysis, and the warehouse receipt confirming the coffee is in bonded custody.
What the certifications mean
Every certification chip links to its evidence - a certificate, the plot polygons, or a quality fingerprint.
Ready for EU-bound trade
The EU Deforestation Regulation requires anyone placing coffee on the EU market to show it was not grown on recently deforested land, and to trace it back to the plot it came from. The passport is structured to carry the geolocation polygons and the deforestation evidence that work calls for, so it travels with the coffee rather than sitting in a separate filing cabinet.
Preparing an EUDR evidence pack - an audit-ready dossier that supports the operator's own due diligence - is done through compliance partners. The operator placing the coffee on the EU market files the Due Diligence Statement; xchange makes the data legible.
How the partner network works