Tokenizing Equity — There's a First Time for Everything

SecurityToken.it Newsletter #11

Several companies recently indicated they were 'the first'. The first to create a real estate backed token, the first to transfer a tokenized security using Ethereum, or the first to issue tokenized equity to the general public.

It's good to be a bit critical of such claims, as they often serve to boost the company's image and PR.

However, such statements have been primarily made during the last month, indicating that momentum is building. This means tokenized securities are getting closer and closer, which is something we can only appreciate.

QUOTE

“In financial markets, liquidity is something you build for not something that happens. In the context of security tokens, the market could remain highly illiquid unless we establish the right infrastructure for the different participants to engage in trade dynamics.”

— Jesus Rodriguez in his latest article

NEWS

💱 The SEC published a statement on its recent enforcement actions (involving e.g. Paragon’s settlement of last week). It gives an insight of the Commission’s view on the (il)legality of certain ICOs, investment advisors and secondary markets of ‘digital asset securities’.

👪 Neufund is set to host Europe’s first primary issuance of tokenized equity offered to the general public. But with a minimum investment of €100,000, is this truly 'the general public'?

💵 Security token issuance platform Polymath released its 2.0 version. New features allow issuers to denominate their STO in USD, to turn the forced transfers function off permanently, and more.

🖥️ Atomic Capital published its Atomic Digital Securities Standard (DSS) on Github and issued its first digital security (shares in the company) on Ethereum.

🇸🇬 Singapore-based CapBridge acquired approval from Singapore's Monetary Authority to operate its securities exchange 1exchange (1X). The exchange will be developed with Consensys and will allow for the trading of security tokens.

LONGER READS

⚛️ Two weeks ago we shared a comparison of different security token standards by Fluidity. Here's a similar comparison by Atomic Capital, including their own standard, Atomic-DSS.

🏢 More startups receive funding, but fewer are acquired or go public, making exits more difficult for investors. The answer to this problem can be found in security tokens, according to the writer.

💰 How asset tokenization [particularly security tokens] may threaten Goldman Sach’s investment banking business, says a former GS banker.

NEW STOs

🖼️ Blockchain-based art investment platform Maecenas — which tokenized a $5.6m Andy Warhol — is now tokenizing a Picasso with a single ERC721 NFT for the artwork and ERC20 tokens representing ownership.

POSTSCRIPT

As you may have noticed, this newsletter was sent on Friday instead of Thursday. We're currently traveling, so the next few newsletters will be sent more irregularly than usual.

Nonetheless, we'll make sure to keep covering all relevant news and keep you up to date of what's happening in the security token industry.

See you next week! 👋

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