Monthly Update
A Month in Review – July 2019
Digital Securities
July was a healthy month for the digital securities sector. We were greeted with, not only new STOs/DSOs, but the successful completion of others. Read on to learn about these developments, as well as gain insight into industry players through our exclusive interviews.
Partnerships
In an on-going effort to provide clients with as well rounded an experience as possible, the sector remains rife with partnership announcements. The following examples demonstrate the global reach of the sector as the companies call different continents home.
DigiMax & Entoro to Collaborate as Advisors on Digital Security Offering
Smartlands Teams Up with ECN CrowdCamp
Licensure / Regulations
While June brought us the announcement of Facebook;s Calibra project, July saw increased levels of scrutiny on the move. The following articles discuss whether Libra tokens will ever launch, and the overall impressions gained from a meeting on Capitol Hill.
Will Facebook Subsidiary, Calibra, See the Light of Day?
Key Points from the Facebook Libra Senate Hearing
Talent Acquisition
While the SEC lost a key member of their team in Robert Cohen, various players in the digital securities sector onboarded talented individuals. Vertalo and tZERO led the way in this regard.
Vertalo and tZERO See Influx of Talent as Multiple Hirings are Made
In Other News
Highlighting this month's newsfeed were endeavours related to the real estate industry. It is widely viewed that real estate is the perfect asset, which can stand to benefit from an influx of technology such as blockchain, due to being low in liquidity. Various companies have made it their mission to tokenize real estate, resulting in some successes and some big announcements.
Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny, states, “We see real estate as one of the key asset classes that drives the adoption of tokenization. Tokenization brings the opportunity to a wider group of investors and in the long term will bring liquidity to an asset where it has been non-existent.”
Fundament Group to Issue €250 Million in Security Token Backed by German Real Estate
Luxembourg Home to Real Estate Sucessfully Tokenized through Tokeny
Interviews
Ed Tuohy, CEO of MERJ Exchange Limited
MERJ is a global financial exchange which is scheduled to launch digital assets and security token markets in the near future. CEO, Ed Tuohy, took the time to discuss with securities.io what MERJ is bringing to the table. Read More
Mikko Ohtamaa, Cofounder & CTO of TokenMarket
TokenMarket is a Gibraltar based crowdfunding platform, with a focus on blockchain based ventures. Cofounder and CTO, Mikko Ohtamaa, discussed his experience in the industry, and what TokenMarket has to offer clients. Read More
Education
The Need for Interoperability in Security Token Protocols
Alice Henshaw penned an article for securities.io discussing industry needs moving forward – mainly the need for interoperability. With years of experience as a smart-contract engineer, working on projects such as Fluidity (AirSwap, DeFi), Alice has developed an intimiate knowledge of the hurdles faced by the digital securities sector. Read her thoughts on why interoperability is crucial.
“Until we have an agreement between protocols on how investor information is stored and updated both on-chain and off-chain, there will remain significant friction throughout the registration and investment processes for all parties involved.”
Read More
Around the Web
U.S Lawmakers Are Realizing They Can't Ban Bitcoin – Forbes
In this article, Forbes details a high-profile hearing, featuring Circle's CEO, Jeremy Allaire, speaking on the importance of blockchain in front of congress. During the course of this hearing, it became evident that lawmakers believe a ban on such technologies would be nearly impossible.
