Over the past three-and-a-half decades, the international trade community has made several attempts to create electronic paperless trading systems. These efforts revolve around a central theme: how can we create an electronic functional equivalent to paper bills of lading that is legally valid across jurisdictions? This paper adopts the view that different aspects of the so-called ‘membership requirement’ have constituted the main obstacles to the widespread adoption of electronic paperless trading systems. It concludes that legal recognition is insufficient to incentivise the broad implementation of such systems unless technological advancements are accompanied by appropriate governance mechanisms that promote trust and serve the varied interests of the stakeholders involved.