Brian Collins, CEO at Horizon Globex – Interview Series

An experienced public and private company CEO, Brian founded Horizon Globex in 2010, which was listed on Nasdaq in 2012. From 1999-2010 Brian was CEO of Abbey Technology in Switzerland, specializing in the design of trading software for Swiss banks. Prior to this, Brian worked for Credit Suisse in Zürich designing and building proprietary equity trading solutions. Brian graduated in 1990 with a B.Sc.(Hons) in Computer Systems from the University of Limerick, Ireland.

AT: Horizon Globex features multiple products which target companies that are looking at launching a Digital Securities Offering. To begin, could you tell us about Tokenetics, and describe the issuance process?

BC: Tokenetics is our underlying digital security issuance, custody and disbursement software for issuers to launch a secure and compliant DSO. An issuer comes to us, and we collaborate with their team (including management, securities lawyers and investment bankers) to create an Ethereum ERC-20 smart contact for the digital securities that will be able to be issued pursuant to an exemption from the registration provisions of the federal securities laws such as Regulation D, Regulation S, Regulation A or pursuant to a registered offering on Form S-1.

We take a unique approach that we believe is most suited for today’s ever changing regulatory framework. Instead of integrating numerous layers of features onto a single digital securities’ smart contract, we prefer to apply additional regulatory compliance via “peered” smart contracts that are built alongside the primary-issuance smart contract, like our Transfer-Agent- Gatekeeper smart contract (via CustodyWare).

For example, if a holder becomes the CEO of the issuer (e.g. an affiliate who is now restricted from “insider” trading in the security), the issuer would be forced to burn the holder’s digital securities, reprogram with the new restrictions and issue a new token. With CustodyWare, the issuer can simply notify the Transfer Agent and the Transfer Agent c an input the CEO’s KYC’d wallet ID to the CustodyWare portal and apply relevant affiliate status restrictions on the securities in that wallet. Our approach puts control in the hands of properly SEC regulated Transfer Agents instead of developers or CEO’s.

AT: Tokenetics also offers secondary trading opportunities, could you describe these?

BC: The answer to this question lies in the ability for our software solutions to integrate with one another. Tokenetics integrates with KYCware, our white label investor onboarding and KYC identity verification smartphone app. AMLcop, our watchlist management sanctions and PEP screening solution, also integrates and acts as the gatekeeper for our entire ecosystem as an investor must be whitelisted to participate. Then, on completion of an offering and its potential holding period (e.g. SEC Rule 506(c)), a Transfer Agent utilizes CustodyWare, our Transfer Agent custody portal, to transfer the digital securities to a regulated ATS for compliant secondary trading. Our use of a Transfer Agent allows issuers to exercise good control, ensuring the identities of investors remain intact throughout the lifecycle of the digital securities. Ensuring that investor identities are known in the same way as traditional securities means that proxy notices can be sent, voting can be done, dividends can be paid, escheatment can be managed, and state and federal laws complied with for estate management and regulatory reporting.

We’ve also developed a dollarized secondary trading solution to provide liquidity assurance to investors and offer new investors the ability to take part in the secondary market, with trading-pairs priced in fiat. Investors both deposit and withdraw funds in fiat, minimizing risk of cryptocurrency regulatory and AML exposure.

AT: CustodyWare is another one of your products which describes itself as a compliant agent custody solution. Could you elaborate on what this product does?

BC: We believe that CustodyWare is the first regulatory compliant product for U.S. Transfer Agents to custody and manage digital securities on behalf of their clients pursuant to an SEC registered or a registration-exempt DSO. The CustodyWare portal integrates with ERC-20 issuances and supports all major Transfer Agent functions including issuance, custody, transfer query, reporting, affiliates and release, providing Transfer Agents with the ability to fulfill the same role for digital securities as they do for traditional securities. All transactions are signed by the Transfer Agent and are transparently and immutably stored on the Ethereum blockchain.

AT: In January 2019, you signed a deal to license CustodyWare to VStock Transfer, LLC “VStock” an SEC registered transfer agent and registrar. Could you tell us a little bit about this agreement?

BC: The agreement with VStock is a licensing agreement which enables VStock to expand upon their traditional business as a leading stock Transfer Agent and registrar firm and begin taking custody of digital securities issued pursuant to Regulation D, Regulation A, Regulation S, or registered offerings filed on Form S-1. We have licensed VStock Transfer our “portal” for them to manage holders and affiliates of digital securities, cancel and re-issue tokens if a holder’s private key is lost/stolen, and act as a paying agent to distribute dividends, etc.

AT: The third product that you have for STO solutions is KYCWare. There's been a lot of KYC products that have hit the market, what differentiates yours?

BC: I think one of our biggest differentiators is our methodology and level of security when it comes to the protection of users’ sensitive information. We don’t perform KYC/AML “verifications” ourselves. Instead, KYCWare provides clients with a white-label mobile app solution and back- end portal to streamline the collection of CIP, KYC and AML information without ever sharing sensitive data with a third-party.

How it works is investors or customers are onboarded through a client-branded KYCWare app which incorporates advanced identity verification technology such as anti-gaming video interview solutions, machine readable ‘MRZ’ scans of passports, security hologram checks for IDs, and more unique layers and updates from traditional identity checks.

On the back-end issuers or customers are run through our AMLCop, anti-money laundering software solution. Then all this sensitive customer information is stored in memory until a representative of the company (whether it be a designated KYC/AML representative or broker- dealer engaged by a DSO issuer) downloads and reviews the submissions on an SEC Regulation S-P compliant medium (for example we recommend clients use a FIPS compliant external hard disk). We take this approach because in the eyes of the regulators, the issuer is ultimately responsible for making sure that all investors are properly K YC’d and AML’d, not the third-party who could further outsource the data to be verified.

AT: You've entered into a software license agreement with Tripoint Global Equities in order to provide them with software support to the BANQ branded security token platform. What is the BANQ platform?

BC: BANQ is the online division of TriPoint that is focused on private placements, Regulation A IPOs and digital security offerings. In addition to supporting the BANQ platform, Globex announced that we entered into a software licensing agreement with First Growth Funds Limited (FGF) to power fully regulated and compliant security token offerings in Australia and New Zealand. FGF is a publicly traded fund listed on the Australian stock exchange and is a diversified Investment company which focuses on increasing shareholder value by making investments across a broad range of asset classes including listed equities, private equity and token offerings.

AT: What's the Globex API?

BC: The Globex API is simply a way for our four software applications to interact directly with Ethereum. Typically, if a company wants to integrate with Ethereum, they could use an open source API or a third-party resource but our ethos for software has always been to create the solutions ourselves. By doing this, if there’s an issue, we have total control over fixing the problem.

AT: One of the more interesting offerings on your website is that you offer a ‘Turnkey Financial Portal' that can be branded to a company's brand. What capabilities will these financial portals offer?

BC: The branded financing portals offer many benefits. On the front-end, issuers present investors or customers with an on-brand investment process from start to finish, maintaining a sense of trust and a seamless user experience. On the back-end, issuers, and their bankers, experience a hosted web portal where they can securely and compliantly manage their customers and necessary reports with no IT experience needed.

AT: You recently had some exciting news with Timeless Luxury Group AG, licensing the Globex full suite of blockchain software solutions to power its DSO, is there anything that you would like to share with our readers about this partnership?

BC: This is a key announcement because it showcases our blockchain software stack’s ability to address all aspects of a digital securities offering. The relationship began with an understanding of Timeless Luxury Groups’ desire to access US capital along with foreign investors in a fully compliant DSO and grant investors the right to a percentage of any future profits.

This offering marks the first offering in the United States to use an SEC registered Transfer Agent for the issuance and custody of digital securities. CustodyWare is being licensed by Timeless Luxury Groups’ designated transfer agent, VStock Transfer, granting VStock the ability to custody Ethereum ERC-20 securities while compliantly maintaining the identity of holders to facilitate the future payment of any dividends in US dollars and any other transfers that the Transfer Agent is responsible for administering (e.g. holds, releases, transfers, etc.).

AT: Is there anything else that you would like to share about Horizon Globex?

BC: There is a lot of hype in the industry with companies making claims about what they ‘will’ create, or even more detrimental, making false claims about the capabilities of their existing companies. We like our approach of coming to the market with live and proven software. In two years, our team of developers built out a comprehensive suite of blockchain software solutions that address the full lifecycle of a compliant digital securities offering. With the continued input from our experienced tech, Wall Street and public company executives, we aim to continue developing and bringing to market technologically advanced products that power the next generation of exchanges and securities offerings in the US and worldwide.

To learn more visit the Horizon Globex.