Tariff Shield

Product: https://tariffshield.app/

Oracle Service Main Page: https://tariff-oracle-service.herokuapp.com/ Status API: https://tariff-oracle-service.herokuapp.com/status Tariff Data: https://tariff-oracle-service.herokuapp.com/tariffs https://tariff-oracle-service-f7302dc0f7e5.herokuapp.com/

Smartcontract https://testnet.explorer.perawallet.app/application/741125183/

Inspiration

The inspiration for Tariff Shield came from realizing importers didn't need another complex insurance product—they needed a simple, automatic safety net that would activate instantly when catastrophic tariff events occurred.

What it does

Tariff Shield provides parametric insurance against extreme tariff increases. When you purchase a policy, you're buying protection for one quarter of future shipments. If tariffs on your trade route exceed your chosen threshold (30%, 40%, 50%, or 100%), you receive an automatic payout—no claims process, no paperwork, no waiting. The system monitors official customs rates in real-time via blockchain integration. Coverage begins after a 90-day pending period (to prevent gaming based on political announcements), then protects your next 90 days of imports. It's catastrophic protection that turns unpredictable trade policy into a manageable, budgetable risk.

How It Works

1. Declare Your Protected Value

Choose ONE product code (HS) per policy Estimate your shipment value for the coverage period Protection covers up to your declared amount

Example: Planning to import $500K of laptops in Q4? That's your declared value.

1. Your Protection Timeline IMPORTANT: No coverage during the monitoring period

First 3 months: MONITORING ONLY (no coverage, no payouts) Next 3 months: FULL PROTECTION ACTIVE With ESP: Monitoring can extend to 6 months before coverage begins

⚠️ Critical: Ship during monitoring period at your own risk—no protection yet.

1. Choose Your Trigger Rate Select when protection activates (during coverage period only):

30% actual tariff rate 40% actual tariff rate 50% actual tariff rate 100% actual tariff rate

Important: These are ABSOLUTE rates. A 50% trigger means protection activates when actual import rates reach 50%, regardless of the starting rate. Early Spike Protection (ESP) ESP prevents speculation while protecting legitimate importers—but doesn't provide early coverage: What ESP Does

Monitors rates during the 3-month waiting period If rates exceed your trigger, extends monitoring to 6 months Ensures fair access to coverage or guaranteed payout Does NOT provide coverage during monitoring

ESP Scenarios Scenario A - Rates Drop Back

Day 0: Purchase policy (rates at 12.7%) - NO COVERAGE YET Days 1-90: MONITORING ONLY - NO COVERAGE Day 45: Rates jump to 52% → ESP activates, extends monitoring Days 91-180: STILL MONITORING - NO COVERAGE Day 180: Rates at 48% → COVERAGE FINALLY BEGINS Days 181-270: PROTECTED for declared amount

Scenario B - Rates Stay High

Day 0: Purchase policy (rates at 12.7%) - NO COVERAGE YET Days 1-90: MONITORING ONLY - NO COVERAGE Day 45: Rates jump to 52% → ESP activates Days 91-180: EXTENDED MONITORING - STILL NO COVERAGE Day 180: Rates still at 52% → Immediate payout (no coverage period needed)

When You're Actually Protected Standard Timeline (No ESP)

Days 1-90: ❌ NO COVERAGE (monitoring only) Days 91-180: ✅ FULL COVERAGE ACTIVE

With ESP Activated

Days 1-180: ❌ NO COVERAGE (extended monitoring) Day 180: Either immediate payout OR coverage begins Days 181-270: ✅ FULL COVERAGE (if rates normalized)

Planning Your Shipments Since there's no coverage during monitoring:

Consider your risk tolerance for early shipments Plan major shipments for the coverage window Remember: ESP extends the wait but ensures fairness

Payout Structure When Payouts Happen

ONLY during active coverage period (after monitoring) OR immediately at day 180 if ESP activated and rates remain high Never during the monitoring period Based on your declared shipment value

Coverage Clarity Your policy protects the declared value of goods shipped during the COVERAGE WINDOW ONLY. Shipments during monitoring period are at your own risk. What's Protected Included (During Coverage Period Only)

✓ Your declared shipment value for one product code ✓ During your 3-month COVERAGE window (not monitoring) ✓ For your specified origin-destination route ✓ Automatic payout when triggers exceeded

Never Covered

✗ ANY shipments during monitoring period ✗ Different product codes ✗ Different routes than declared ✗ Past shipments ✗ Value exceeding declared amount

Simple Pricing One-Time Premium

Pay upfront for future protection Same price whether ESP extends timeline or not No refunds if you ship during monitoring period Premium buys future coverage, not immediate protection

Key Warnings ⚠️ No Coverage During Monitoring: The first 3 months (or up to 6 with ESP) provide ZERO protection. Plan accordingly. ⚠️ Ship Early at Your Own Risk: Need to ship immediately? You won't be covered until the monitoring period ends. ⚠️ ESP Extends Wait Time: While ESP protects against speculation, it means waiting longer for coverage to begin. Why the Monitoring Period? The monitoring period:

Prevents buying policies after tariff announcements Ensures sustainable pricing for all users Protects against market manipulation Allows legitimate importers to plan ahead

Getting Started Before You Buy, Understand:

No immediate protection - 3+ month wait Plan shipments for coverage window Early shipments are unprotected Premium is non-refundable even if you need to ship early

The Bottom Line: Buy today, wait 3+ months, then get protected.

How I built it

The foundation is my real-time tariff monitoring system, which pulls data from customs APIs and official government sources every 15 minutes. This feeds into my smart contract layer on Algorand Testnet, where all policies are encoded as self-executing contracts. When my oracle network confirms a tariff has exceeded a threshold, the smart contract automatically triggers payment to the policyholder's wallet. The front-end is a simple web interface where importers can get quotes, purchase coverage, and monitor their policies.

Challenges I ran into

I am a UX/UI Designer learning how to develop to become a design engineer. Also was sick with Covid while I built Tariff Shield.

My biggest challenge was designing the anti-gaming mechanisms. Early versions could be exploited by traders who followed political news closely—they'd buy policies right before major trade announcements. The 90-day pending period solved this, but created a new problem: legitimate importers felt it was too restrictive. I solved this with the "soft lock" feature—if tariffs spike during your pending period, it automatically extends to 180 days and pays out if rates remain elevated.

Another major challenge was education. Parametric insurance is virtually unknown. Importers are used to traditional insurance where they file claims and argue about coverage. Explaining that my product pays automatically based on a simple threshold—regardless of their actual losses—required completely rethinking my messaging.

Accomplishments that I am proud of

I'm most proud of how far i came in self developing and nearly creating the first truly automated tariff insurance product.

While traditional trade credit insurance can take 6-12 months to pay claims, my system pays in under 60 seconds. I've also achieved something I didn't expect: by setting high absolute thresholds (30%+), I've created a product that's both economically sustainable and valuable for customers. My historical modeling shows these extreme events are rare enough to price affordably, but devastating enough that protection is essential. I'm also proud of my soft lock innovation. It elegantly solves the gaming problem while still protecting legitimate importers who happen to buy coverage at unfortunate times. This feature alone transformed my product from a "speculative bet" to genuine business protection.

What I learned

I learned a lot. My background is in design and research. So this project was really pushing my knowledge and skillset. My goal was to solo this hackathon, make a decent product, a high quality front end, create an oracle with an API, write a smart contract and make a state change on on the blockchain. I completed nearly all of my goals.

While the blockchain state change happened in staging, there was a bug at the last minute that prevented me from making the Algorand blockchain state change in production.

What's next for Tariff Shield

I need to debug the implementation of the Algorand blockchain smart contract, the custom oracle for API data, and the front end. The implementation worked on bolt.new then when i deployed on Netlify, the whole screen went whiteout.

I was working against the deadline with minutes to spare so i was not able to debug the whiteout version with algorand integration before the submission deadline. This was the browser console error "main.tsx:1 Failed to load module script: Expected a JavaScript-or-Wasm module script but the server responded with a MIME type of "application/octet-stream". Strict MIME type checking is enforced for module scripts per HTML spec."

The parametric tariff insurance market represents a $4.8-8.2 billion annual opportunity, driven by unprecedented tariff volatility affecting $800 billion to $1.2 trillion of US imports. The market has been transformed by dramatic policy shifts since 2018, with Chinese import tariffs jumping from 3.1% to over 50%, steel tariffs doubling to 50%, and some products like EVs facing 100% rates. This creates immediate demand for insurance products that can provide rapid, automated payouts when tariffs exceed predetermined thresholds.

The most promising beachhead markets include steel/aluminum importers ($50B+ annually, 7,600+ companies), Chinese electronics importers ($380B+ in Section 301 imports), and solar panel importers facing overlapping tariffs up to 286%. While large enterprises dominate import volumes, the real opportunity lies with the 97% of importing companies that are SMEs - they lack negotiating power to absorb sudden tariff increases and desperately need predictable cost structures. By targeting these underserved segments with digital distribution and simplified products priced at 0.3-0.6% of insured value, parametric tariff insurance can capture significant market share in what has become an essential risk management tool for modern international trade.

Built With

• algo
• algorand
• bolt.new
• claude
• heroku
• netlify
• nodely
• supabase