Digital Securities
As Support Dwindles, Will Libra Flame Out?
Libra : Plagued by Fear and Anger
When first announced, Facebook subsidiary, Calibra, and its digital token, Libra, pointed to a bright future for digital assets.
In the time since, however, Calibra and its two proposed tokens have been met with nothing but fear and hostility – with much of it warranted.
Despite a lawsuit, and dwindling support levels, those behind the project remain adamant that they will make it work. While this may appear foolhardy, at first, it is important to remember the power held by the company organizing the entire venture. To be frank, Facebook has the financial capability and influence to make this happen on their own.
Losing Support
As stated, since announcing their project, Facebook and their subsidiary, Calibra, have experienced a tumultuous few months. As a result of on-going scrutiny towards the project by government officials around the world, we have now seen at least 6 of the major backers behind the project withdraw.
The following are a few of the statements issued to news outlets such as CoinDesk, Financial Times, and more, by some of those withdrawing from the project.
PayPal
- “We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future. Facebook has been a longstanding and valued strategic partner to PayPal, and we will continue to partner with and support Facebook in various capacities.”
MasterCard
- “MasterCard has decided it will not become a member of the Libra Association at this time. WE remain focused on our strategy and our own significant efforts to enable financial inclusion around the world. We believe there are potential benefits in such initiatives and will continue to monitor the Libra effort.”
Visa
- “Visa has decided not to join the Libra Association at this time. We will continue to evaluate and our ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations… Visa’s continued interest in Libra stems from our belief that well-regulated blockchain-based networks could extend the value of secure digital payments to a greater number of people and places, particularly in emerging and developing markets.”
Stripe
- “Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world. Libra has this potential. We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”
EBay
- “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member…this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”
Despite the loss of these big players, Calibra remains well backed by a slew of others, such as Coinbase, Uber, Spotify, and more. Will these companies, and others, follow suit and abandon ship?
Trademark Infringement
Further complicating the situation surrounding Calibra and its two tokens, is the recently announced lawsuit against the company.
Current, a New York based financial service provider, has filed a trademark infringement suit. More specifically, the company believes that Facebook copied their branding, and used it for their own purposes. The following images show the icons used by each company, with obvious similarities being evident.
While this situation is still in its early days, it will do nothing but complicate an already complicated situation. Time will tell what effect this potential trademark infringement has on the viability of Calibra, overall.
Calibra
A subsidiary of Facebook, Calibra, was launched in 2019. This project was built to act as a digital wallet for supporting the Libra stablecoin as an eventual global currency.
For a more thorough look at the project, and the two tokens it is built upon, make sure to read the following article.
Calibra – A Product of Facebook, Built on Two Tokens
In Other News
Over the past few months, we have covered multiple developments pertaining to Calibra and their respective tokens. We will continue to do so as the situation unravels. For now, here is a brief look at the progression of acceptance experienced by the project.
SEC See Pressure to Label Libra a Security Token
Authorities Weigh in on Facebook and their Stablecoin, Libra
Will Facebook Subsidiary, Calibra, See the Light of Day?
The shipping company Vogemann based in Hamburg, Germany issued its first digital security with the help of blockchain technology.
The total issued volume for the security token offering (STO) is 50 million US dollars (USD). The securities sales prospect was approved by the FMA Financial Supervision Authority Liechtenstein on July 3 and the sale had started on July 9.
In its mission to lower CO2 emissions and transition to an environmentally sustainable model, the Vogemann shipping company decided to raise capital for the acquisition of “green” bulker transports.
Digital Security Issuance for Green Ship Tokens
According to the sales prospect, the raised capital will be used to purchase bulk carriers with their own board cranes. Bulkers transport raw materials such as grain, fertilizer, coal, ores, minerals, steel and forest products – this type of transport generating over half of the global maritime transport.
Jens-Michael Arndt, managing partner of H. Vogemann Reederei GmbH & Co. KG, explains the acquisition profile:
“We are particularly targeting so-called ‘Green Ships’. They offer the ideal combination of increased energy efficiency with reduced emission values. This not only makes them more environmentally friendly, but also ensures lower fuel costs and higher charter rates”.
According to Vogemann, worldwide there are currently only two bulkers in the handy-size segment up to 40,000 tons, which meet the highest requirements for CO2 emissions. Both ships of the so-called ‘Green Dolphin’ class were built for Vogemann and were put in service in 2019.
Vogemann’s decision to pursue a digital security issuance aligns with the company’s plan to invest in future-oriented ships.
Markus Lange, managing partner of Vogemann had further reinforced the company’s willingness to try new financing options and the emergence of STOs became a realistic alternative now:
“We have always been open to new financing methods,” “A security token offering is the logical continuation of our financing strategy.”
The digital security was issued under the name Green Ship Tokens. An investment in Green Ship Tokens brings together environmental protection and investment opportunities in the best way.
What is the Green Ship Token?
The Vogemann Green Ship Tokens are digital securities in the form of tokenized profit participation rights with a fixed annual return. The raised capital is invested in new or modern used bulkers, which are employed in the company’s operations.
According to the security offering documentation, the tokenized participation rights exclusively grant contractual creditor rights to the bearer and explicitly no shareholder rights.
From a technical point of view, the issuance of the tokens took place on the Ethereum blockchain. Investors benefit from a fully digitized investment process. While interested investors only need an internet connection to participate, they are still subject to a verification process as accredited investors in accordance with the applied law.
The issuance and investing platform www.greenshiptoken.com is based on Ive.One, which was developed by the Frankfurt-based FinTech Agora Innovation GmbH for digital security issuance with the help of blockchain technology. The capital market regulatory support is provided by attorney Lutz Auffenberg, LL.M. from Fin Law, Frankfurt, a law firm specialized in the tokenization of financial instruments.
Key data of the Green Ship Token issuance:
Issue volume:
50 million tokens worth USD 1 per token
ISIN:
DE000A2P1QZ6
LEI:
894500T8PAD7RD1QI83
Interest rate:
8% p.a. + plus profit sharing of 50/50 between investors and issuer, insofar as the economic success of the issuer permits.
Minimum investment amount:
USD 1,000
Premium:
2%.
Duration:
Up to 15 years
Investment:
www.greenshiptoken.com
Issuer:
Vogemann Green Ship Token, Hamburg
Coordination/Sales:
Neofin Hamburg GmbH, Hamburg
Trailblazing the Digital Issuance Process
The issuance of the Green Ship Token to raise capital for investment purposes represents a monumental step and could be an example other corporations may follow.
The security issuance is taking place within the applied securities law and is subject to certain verifications, nonetheless the digital issuance process makes it much easier both for issuers and investors.
It’s not yet a fully “open” financing alternative as a couple of countries are barred from participating – most notably USA and China. Still, the issuance on the Ethereum blockchain opens up the investment opportunity to many more investors and enables a much easier trading process.
Will this open the gates for other companies to follow down the same path or is the digital issuance process at this stage not attractive enough for issuers yet?
Two Thumbs Up
Popular digital asset solution provider, Tokeny, has recently had cybersecurity experts, at Kaspersky, assess the validity of their security claims surrounding T-REX. The result? Two thumbs up.
This assessment is an important endorsement for Tokeny. Anyone can claim to have the most secure framework around – proving it is a different story. By turning to a respected third-party, such as Kaspersky, Tokeny provides validity to their claims, and clout to their offering in T-REX.
Commentary
Upon announcing the results generated by Kaspersky, representatives from each company took the time to comment.
Svetlana Shubina, Business Development Manager at Kaspersky, stated,
“Our team of experts review the code line-by-line documenting any issues as they are discovered. The source code is well crafted and follows security practices compliant with the architecture described in the whitepaper. Thereby we confirm smart-contract business-description and the architecture corresponds to the functionality in the code.”
Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny, stated,
“We are working with financial instruments and with partners that require the highest level of security. In this respect we know how important it is to have a third party analyse and assess the implementation of our token standard. We’re very pleased to say it received the highest rating possible.”
First Look
When released in 2018, TREX – which stands for Token for Regulated EXchange- was the first framework of its kind.
In the time since its launch, Tokeny indicates that it has seen its clients grow to over 35. These clients have contributed towards greater than $27B worth of assets undergoing tokenization with the help of Tokeny.
Tokeny Releases TREX – The First Public Framework for STOs
Snowball of Success
Success at Tokeny appears to be snowballing. Only weeks ago, we were reporting on the adoption of their services by the nation of Monaco. This adoption comes at a key time, as Monaco is actively looking to ramp up their efforts surrounding support for security tokens and STOs.
Monaco Chooses Tokeny as Sole Provider for Tokenization Services
Tokeny
Founded in 2017, Tokeny maintains operations in Luxembourg. Tokeny has grown significantly since launch, now offering a comprehensive suite of services, tailored towards tokenization.
CEO, Luc Falempin, currently oversees company operations.
Kaspersky
Founded in 1997, Kaspersky is headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Since it’s launch, Kaspersky has become one of the world’s most popular cybersecurity firms.
CEO, Eugene Kaspersky, currently oversees company operations.
In Other News
For those interested in Tokeny, a great way to learn about the company is to go back and see where they came from, and what their original goals were. To this end, make sure to peruse our past interview with Tokeny CEO, Luc Falempin. In this discussion, Luc touches on, both, what Tokeny hopes to achieve, and how they will achieve it.
Interview Series – Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny Solutions
Copper Catalyst
Over the past few years, one thing has been made clear within digital securities. This would be a need to develop services which ‘bridge the gap’ between traditional markets, and those of the future. Simply creating new services and offerings will not, necessarily, spur adoption. Rather, by providing an easy transition for those already enveloped in financial markets, seems to be a more prudent path to follow.
With this in mind, Copper has announced the creation, and launch, of a new service, dubbed ‘Copper Catalyst’.
Simply put, Copper describes Catalyst as providing the ability to ‘enable crypto funds to create and issue securities on digital assets rapidly, and cost-effectively’.
What does it do? And How?
Catalyst allows for institutional investors to gain access/exposure to cryptocurrencies – all while removing the need for self-storage. This is done through the use of actively-managed certificates (AMCs). As a result, by using AMCs, Copper is enabling cryptocurrency indices to be treated as clearable securities.
Bringing even greater appeal to Catalyst, is the use of Swiss ISINs – meaning the securities will be fully bankable (easily converted to cash). As a result, access will be provided through various regulated European exchanges.
To date, Catalyst is the only service of its kind. Depending on its success, there will surely be competitors that arise in the future.
ISIN
ISIN is short for ‘International Securities Identification Number’. These numbers are attached to specific issuances of stock, and provide information on the underlying product.
Think of an ISIN as being similar to a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) on your automobile. When decoded, a VIN will provide information, such as date of manufacturing, options, and etcetera. Similarly, when decoded, an ISIN will provide information, such as a stock identifier, issuance country, etc.
An ISIN is used primarily to identify the underlying product, reducing the risk of various forms of fraud.
Cost Savings
Beyond offering the various capabilities discussed above, Copper notes another major draw towards Catalyst – cost savings.
They attribute this cost savings, primarily, to the ‘initial and on-going regulatory compliance’. By offering various services, surrounding KYC/AML, trade management, and more, Copper surmises that clients will save, both, time and money. For example, they provide the following comparisons between utilizing the Catalyst suite vs. independent sourcing of services.
Catalyst
- £25K
- Completion in days
Independent
- £100K+
- Completion in months
Commentary
Upon announcing the launch of Catalyst, Copper CEO, Dmitry Tokarev, took the time to comment. He states,
“The crypto fund industry has shown enormously promising growth over the last decade, with impressive strategies and excellent return for investors. But it is no secret that there has been a clear barrier to their graduation into the investment mainstream: the lack of feasible securitisation options. With sky-high costs and extensive compliance issues associated with most available structures, there is a gulf between traditional financial markets and this next generation of funds: a gulf that Copper Catalyst will bridge.”
Growing Suite
With the launch of Catalyst, Copper now has a well-rounded suite of services. The following are just a few examples.
As this product suite rounds in to form, Copper has the potential to become a leader in a sector rife with potential.
Series A
The development, and launch, of Catalyst is a promising sign. It shows that Copper is not squandering their recently completed Series A.
We recently covered the success of this funding round, as Copper was able to generate $8M in investments through a variety of companies. To learn more about this round, and those that participated, make sure to peruse the following article.
Custodial Specialists ‘Copper’ Draws $8M in Investments through Series A
Copper
Founded in 2018, Copper maintains headquarters in London, UK. Above all, the team at Copper is working to develop a comprehensive suite of services, tailored towards digital assets.
CEO, Dmitry Tokarev, currently oversees company operations.
Past Looks
While their services have expanded well beyond simply that of custody, this is certainly an area of speciality for the company. Over the past year, we have touched on various instances of adoption, including that of SWARM, as they turned to Copper to custody security tokens.
Copper to Provide Security Token Custodial Services to SWARM