The platform

Four verbs, one protocol, every regulated flow.

Volum is a distributed origin protocol organized around four capabilities: Track, Route, Identify, Source. Each capability is a set of typed protocol calls against a shared, permissioned ledger.

TRACK

Custody as event stream.

Every custody transfer, transformation, and observation event is written to the ledger as a signed, EPCIS 2.0 conformant record.

Shipment observation events

Aggregation and transformation

Custody handover with dual signature

IoT sensor readings, geo-locked

ROUTE

Programmable trade flows.

Smart contracts route payment, release, escalation, and compliance on verified events, replacing document-triggered workflows.

Letter of credit release on custody event

Fiat abstraction: VLM metered under the hood

Automated escalation on threshold breach

Duty and tax scheduling at customs pass

IDENTIFY

Verifiable identity across the chain.

Producers, certifiers, customs authorities, buyers, and downstream verifiers each hold W3C Verifiable Credentials scoped to their role.

Issuer, holder, verifier separation

Revocation lists on chain

Selective disclosure per counterparty

Zero-knowledge attribute proofs, on the roadmap

SOURCE

Origin as a cryptographic claim.

Certificate of Origin, deforestation attestation, DPP payload, tariff basis, all issued as signed Verifiable Credentials on the same registry.

Certificate of Origin, EPCIS-linked

EUDR geolocated origin evidence

DPP payload, ESPR conformant

Chain-of-custody proofs, verifier friendly

Coverage

Fourteen transaction families, mapped to the protocol.

Each family is a defined set of typed protocol calls. Some are live in pilot deployment; some are on the near-term roadmap.

#	Transaction family	Layer	Status
01	Certificate of Origin, EPCIS-linked	Source	Live
02	Shipment custody, event ledger	Track	Live
03	Party identity, verifiable credentials	Identify	Live
04	Deforestation attestation, geolocated	Source	Pilot
05	Digital Product Passport payload	Source	Pilot
06	Customs declaration bundle	Route	Pilot
07	Letter of credit, event-triggered release	Route	Pilot
08	Warehouse receipt, tokenised	Track	Roadmap
09	CBAM embedded-emissions bundle	Source	Roadmap
10	Battery passport, ESPR conformant	Source	Pilot
11	FSMA 204 traceability lot record	Track	Pilot
12	Duty and tax scheduling	Route	Roadmap
13	Insurance parametric trigger	Route	Roadmap
14	Chain-of-custody handoff, dual-signed	Track	Live

Live: available in production for pilot participants. Pilot: available under design-partner agreement. Roadmap: development scheduled 2026 to 2027.

Integration

One event feed. Every downstream system.

Volum publishes GS1 EPCIS 2.0 event feeds. Any conforming buyer platform, ERP, retailer system, or regulator can subscribe and receive the same source of truth.

EPCIS 2.0 event stream

# custody event, JSON-LD
{
  "@context": ["https://ref.gs1.org/standards/epcis/2.0.0/epcis-context.jsonld"],
  "type": "EPCISDocument",
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "epcisBody": {
    "eventList": [{
     "type": "ObjectEvent",
     "eventTime": "2026-02-14T07:22:00Z",
     "epcList": ["urn:vlm:shipment:8829-KE-A2"],
     "action": "OBSERVE",
     "bizStep": "urn:epcglobal:cbv:bizstep:shipping",
     "readPoint": {"id": "urn:vlm:place:port-mombasa"},
     "signature": "0x8c3f...ok" // verified
    }]
  }
}