A Legal and Regulatory Framework for Digital Settlement of Petrochemical Exports Using Smart Contracts and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): A Case Study of Saba Energy Holding

The digital transformation of global trade is reshaping the mechanisms through which commercial transactions are negotiated, executed, and settled. Blockchain, smart contracts, and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) offer new possibilities for improving the efficiency, transparency, security, and resilience of cross-border financial transactions. These technologies are especially relevant for strategic export industries operating under financial restrictions, increasing compliance requirements, and geopolitical uncertainty. Yet their adoption remains constrained by unresolved legal, regulatory, and governance challenges concerning enforceability, jurisdiction, conflict of laws, payment finality, sanctions exposure, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing compliance, and institutional legitimacy. This study develops a legal-regulatory framework for the digital settlement of petrochemical exports using smart contracts and CBDCs, with Saba Energy Holding serving as an illustrative case. The article integrates international financial law, private international law, digital trade governance, blockchain regulation, financial innovation, and regulatory governance. Its theoretical foundation is the theory of Self-Generating Trust Institutions, which conceptualizes trust as an institutional capability continuously produced through transparency, accountability, enforceability, incentive alignment, regulatory compliance, adaptability, and participatory legitimacy. The article argues that digital settlement systems become sustainable only when technological functionality is embedded within coherent legal and governance architectures. The proposed framework consists of four mutually reinforcing layers: legal architecture, compliance architecture, operational architecture, and governance architecture. These layers explain how smart contracts and CBDCs can be integrated into export settlement processes while maintaining legal certainty, regulatory legitimacy, and operational resilience. The study contributes to the literature by connecting programmable finance with trust-centered institutional design and provides practical implications for regulators, financial institutions, and export-oriented enterprises seeking to modernize cross-border settlement infrastructures.

کلیدواژه ها:

: Smart Contracts ، Central Bank Digital Currency ، CBDC ، Digital Settlement ، Petrochemical Exports ، International Financial Law ، Private International Law ، Self-Generating Trust Institutions ، Digital Governance ، Blockchain Governance ، Digital Arbitration