Toward the Next-Generation Ledger: Forecasting the Convergence of AI, IoT, and Quantum-Resistant Computing in Autonomous Supply Chain Finance
Main article
Abstract
Supply chain finance (SCF) is being reshaped by three technological currents that, until recently, advanced on separate tracks: artificial intelligence (AI) for credit and risk intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) for verifiable physical-world data, and distributed-ledger infrastructure that now faces an emerging threat from quantum computation. This article forecasts how these currents converge into what we term the next-generation ledger, a programmable settlement fabric on which financing decisions are taken with limited human intervention. Drawing on a structured reading of fifty studies published between 2016 and 2026, we organise the literature around three pillars, AI analytics, IoT sensing on the ledger, and quantum-resistant cryptography, and we map how each contributes to, and constrains, the automation of SCF. We introduce a layered reference architecture, score the analytical maturity of each pillar across five financing capabilities, and present a forward projection of adoption through 2036. Our analysis indicates that AI and IoT are entering mainstream deployment while post-quantum cryptography remains early but strategically urgent, because the long settlement horizons of trade obligations expose ledgers to a harvest-now-decrypt-later risk. We conclude that the trustworthiness of autonomous SCF will depend less on any single technology than on the disciplined integration of all three, and we set out a research agenda for that integration.
