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tZERO to tokenize $18M of stock for the ‘Robinhood of real estate investing’

July 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

tZERO to tokenize M of stock for the ‘Robinhood of real estate investing’

Coin Telegraph

Around $18 million worth of NYCE’s common shares will be tokenized and supported for secondary trading on tZERO’s security token trading platform.

tZERO, an alternative trading system for security tokens, has announced a partnership with real estate crowdfunding company, NYCE Group, to tokenize $18 million worth of the firm’s shares.

NYCE’s stock will be tZERO’s first new listing since launching its ASPN pairing in August 2020, representing fractionalized ownership in a Colorado ski resort.

Announced June 30, tZERO will support secondary trade for NYCE’s tokenized common shares once the real estate company has completed its upcoming Regulation A+ offering, subject to regulatory approval.

NYCE’s shares will be tokenized using tZERO’s proprietary smart contract technology. Philip Michael, CEO and co-founder of NYCE, stated:

“Through our partnership with the leader in liquidity for digital securities, tZERO, we are excited to provide investors with liquidity optionality.”

The real estate firm was founded by Michael and FC Barcelona soccer player Martin Braithwaite, with media describing the platform as a “Robinhood of real estate investing.”

The NYCE app allows retail investors to own fractionalized shares in properties from its $260 million portfolio, describing its mission to create 100,000 high-net-worth millennial stakeholders of color by 2030.

NYCE finalized its $1 million Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) offering in October 2020, setting a record for the fastest Reg CF offering to raise seven figures. The company formally launched its app in March.

Of the tokens on the exchange, volume for the ASPN token has consistently lagged behind tZERO’s native token TZROP and Overstock’s digital security OSTKO since the resort’s token was launched.

The security token sector has been on a wild ride in recent years, with monthly volume increasing from roughly by more than 110 times from less than $200,000 as of January 2020 to roughly $22 million during August.

However, monthly trade activity has since slumped more than 75% with less than $5 million in May.

According to Security Token Group’s latest report, TZROP was the most-traded security token for the month of May with nearly $2.7 million worth of trade. TZROP’s market cap is currently roughly $140 million, which would rank it as the 229th-largest crypto asset by capitalization, according to CoinGecko.

Coinbase-backed Securitize secures $48M in Series B funding

June 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coinbase-backed Securitize secures M in Series B funding

asset tokenization

Morgan Stanley Tactical Value and Blockchain Capital have led a funding round for Securitize.

Morgan Stanley has made its first capital investment foray into the blockchain space, co-leading a $48 million funding for Securitize.

According to a release issued on Monday, the Coinbase-backed asset tokenization outfit has completed a Series B funding round that drew participation from Morgan Stanley Tactical Value-managed investment funds and Blockchain Capital.

Other participants in the funding round included Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB), Emin Gün Sirer’s Ava Labs, and venture capital fund IDC Ventures, among others.

The oversubscribed Series B round also saw participation from previous Securitize backers like Ripple and Borderless Capital.

Monday’s Series B funding announcement comes barely a month after successfully closing a $12.75 million Series B funding round.

As with other Securitize capital raises, the Series B investors will receive their shares as digital assets issued by the firm. According to the release, the asset tokenization platform already has over 300,000 verified investors.

In March, Securitize collaborated with SMTB to launch Japan’s first “A-1” rated security token.

As part of its investment, Morgan Stanley Tactical Value co-head Pedro Teixeira will join the Board of Directors at Securitize.

Commenting on Morgan Stanley’s first blockchain investment, Teixeira was quoted in the announcement as saying that the investment bank was keen on assets with long-term potential, adding:

“Our investment in Securitize is a sign that we believe in the growth and adoption of digital asset securities.”

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo also echoed Teixeira’s comments stating that VC funding for the company demonstrates the growing popularity of digital asset securities among legacy finance stakeholders.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Morgan Stanley introduced a Bitcoin (BTC) investment product for rich clients back in March. The $4 trillion wealth management giant in April expanded its BTC exposure for wealthy clients to 12 investment funds.

Singapore’s DBS Bank launches digital bond security token

June 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Institutional or accredited investors signed up to the DBS Digital Exchange will be able to access secondary markets for DBS’s digital bond.

Singapore-based multinational banking corporation, DBS Bank, has launched its first-ever security token offering, or STO, by issuing a digital bond.

The DBS digital bond has been priced at $11.35 million and comes with a six-month tenor and coupon rate of 0.60% annually. The offering was carried out through a private placement hosted by DBS Digital Exchange, or DDEx, marking DDEx’s first STO.

To encourage investor engagement, the bond is set to be traded in board lots of 10,000 Singapore dollars (roughly $7,560) — a dramatic reduction compared to the 250,000 Singapore dollar board lots that traditional wholesale bonds are traded in.

The digital bonds will be available for secondary trading to clients of DDEx who are accredited or institutional investors.

DBS hopes its offering will pave the way for other issuers to launch security token offerings via the DDEx platform.

Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, the Group Head of capital markets at DBS, emphasized that security tokens offer an efficient and innovative method for raising capital in the Asia-Pacific region — which currency represents more than 30% of the global private equity markets. He stated:

“Our maiden STO listing on the DBS Digital Exchange is a significant milestone, as it highlights the strength of our digital asset ecosystem in facilitating new ways of unlocking value for issuers and investors. We expect asset tokenisation to increasingly become more mainstream as more of our clients start to embrace security token issuance as part of their capital fund raising.”

Since launching in December 2020, Moey estimates daily volumes on DDEx have increased by 900%, with the platform now servicing more than 120 traders. DBS’s crypto custody service also holds more than $60 million in assets.

The bank also launched a trust structure offering investment management services for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) speculators in early May.

Blockchain trading platform INX completes $125M SEC-approved token IPO

May 4, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

INX has reportedly raised $125 million from investors to build a fully regulated trading platform for crypto and security tokens.

INX Limited has completed the first-ever Securities and Exchange Commission-approved token sale event via an initial public offering.

According to a release issued by the company, the blockchain trading platform raised $85 million in gross proceeds from over 7,200 investors — both retail and qualified institutional actors. Details from the announcement show that the average of investors who participated in the token IPO was 42.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the SEC-registered INX was looking to wrap up its token IPO before the end of April. The company had previously penciled the end of 2020 as its initial date to conclude the token IPO.

Together with the $7.5 million from a previous private round and another 39.6 million Canadian dollars (about $32.2 million) in private placement equity on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Gibraltar-based company has reportedly raised $125 million.

This sum is, however, subject to final confirmation from the TSX — for the placement equity round — and is greater than the initial target set during its August 2020 IPO launch.

According to the announcement, crypto payments from Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USD Coin (USDC) accounted for more than half of the amount raised. INX said the investment sums received via cryptocurrency payments were converted to U.S. dollars.

The $125 million raised from the token IPO will be used to fund the creation of the company’s fully regulated trading platform for crypto and security tokens. The planned blockchain-based service will also allow client firms the opportunity to issue and sell tokenized securities.

Speaking to Reuters, INX co-founder Shy Datika expressed enthusiasm that the company’s token IPO will pave the way for other companies to issue SEC-approved security tokens.

In a conversation with Cointelegraph, the INX co-founder confirmed that the company already hadabout 30 companies looking to launch security tokens on its platform.

According to Datika, blockchain adoption is catching on across both retail and institutional investors.

Société Générale Launches Blockchain-Based Structured Product

April 19, 2021 Bitcoin.com

One of Europe’s largest investment banks issues security token on Tezos

April 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

Société Générale continues its crypto and blockchain experimentation by issuing a tokenized security on the Tezos network.

European financial behemoth Société Générale has issued a security token on the Tezos blockchain.

According to an announcement on Thursday, the move constitutes the first tokenized asset offered by Société Générale.

The bank stated that the security token offering was a significant milestone in the efforts to begin full-spectrum cryptocurrency market operations by 2022.

Société Générale, through its subsidiary, Société Générale – Forge, reportedly plans to issue tokenized securities that can be integrated with legacy banking systems. Apart from asset tokenization, the bank’s crypto foray will also include exchange and custody services for institutional clients. The bank stated:

“This new experimentation, performed in accordance with best market practices, demonstrates the legal, regulatory and operational feasibility of issuing more complex financial instruments (structured products) on public blockchain.”

The maiden security token issuance marks the third consecutive year of crypto and blockchain adoption developments from the stables of Société Générale.

Back in 2019, the bank, via its specialized credit institution Société Générale SFH, issued a 100-million euro bond as a tokenized security on Ethereum.

In May 2020, SFH and SG Forge, together with the Banque de France, issued a tokenized 40-million-euro bond, settled using an experimental central bank digital currency.

Indeed, Société Générale is one of the financial institutions tapped by France’s central bank to conduct its experimental central bank digital currency pilot study.

Earlier in April, Société Générale was among a group of global banks hired by the European Investment Bank to utilize blockchain in digital bond issuance.

While the European Union is yet to arrive at definitive regulations for crypto and blockchain, Société Générale is one of many financial institutions in the region experimenting with the novel technology.

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