Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX): Rise, Fall, and Valereum Acquisition

The Vision: A Tokenized Stock Exchange

In 2019, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) made global headlines with a bold ambition: to become the world’s first fully regulated stock exchange to support the listing and trading of tokenized securities. By integrating blockchain technology into its settlement layers, GSX aimed to support corporate bonds, funds, and asset-backed securities on a digital ledger.

This initiative was powered by the STACS Network (Securities Trading Asset Classification Settlement), a protocol developed by its joint venture, Hashstacs. The goal was to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets (TradFi) and the emerging crypto economy.

The Outcome: Acquisition and Closure

Despite the early promise, the GSX struggled to gain significant liquidity for its tokenized listings. As the digital asset market matured, the exchange faced stiff competition from larger jurisdictions and decentralized alternatives.

The story of GSX concluded with a significant corporate restructuring:

• The Valereum Acquisition: In January 2024, Valereum, a Gibraltar-based technology group, completed the acquisition of 100% of the GSX Group. The deal was valued at approximately 5 million Valereum shares plus warrants.
• Closing the Exchange: Prior to the completion of the deal, in late 2023, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange voluntarily surrendered its license to the regulator and closed its markets. Valereum announced that it would discontinue the “GSX” brand to focus entirely on its own proprietary technology, GATENet.

The Tech Partner: A Successful Pivot for STACS

While the exchange itself ceased operations, the technology partner mentioned in the original coverage found a different path to success. Hashstacs rebranded to STACS and successfully pivoted its business model.

Based in Singapore, STACS moved away from building generic exchange protocols and focused on ESG Finance. Today, it operates ESGpedia, a massive registry of environmental, social, and governance data. This platform helps banks and corporations track their sustainability goals and issue “green bonds.”

STACS has partnered with major institutions like Deutsche Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), proving that while the original venue (GSX) failed, the underlying technology found a valuable use case in the sustainable finance sector.

Conclusion

The journey of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange serves as a critical case study in the early days of asset tokenization. It demonstrated the difficulty of bootstrapping liquidity on a new exchange, even with regulatory approval. However, the legacy of its technology partner, STACS, highlights how blockchain infrastructure can successfully evolve to solve real-world problems like carbon tracking and green finance.