Security Tokens
Raise partners with African Legal Network
A New Partnership
From December 8-9th, the Business for Africa Forum tookplace in Cairo, Egypt. During this conference, a new partnership was announced that looks to bring new advancement for the blockchain industry.
- Issuances
- Contract templates
- Legal Definitions
Through a newly established partnership between RAISE and the African Legal Network, the first security token framework will be established. This framework will detail a variety of steps to help maintain uniformity across a rapidly developing sector. Issues to be addressed via the framework are as follows:
Utilizing the wide network of the ALN, these standards will be shared and followed by various independent law practices across Africa.
By establishing this framework, future investors and issuers will be able to rely upon uniformity across all security token offerings. Fragmentation within the industry only leads to slow development, and often confusion among investors. The elimination of this can only be viewed in a positive light.
African Digital Asset Framework
The framework, to be developed by Raise and the ALN, will be known as the African Digital Asset Framework. This framework will be open-source, with the goal of developing both legal and technological standards across that continent.
To date, this framework has seen the endorsement of various entities, ranging from The African Union to the African Development Bank.
Raise
Founded in 2017, RAISE is based out of Nairobi. They are a blockchain company that specializes in the creation and issuance of digital securities.
Speaking on the partnership with the ALN was Raise CEO, Marvin Coleby. He stated, “Blockchain technologies suffer from a clear lack of regulation around the world. There is a need for efforts at self-regulation to create frameworks that educate law firms, policy makers and entrepreneurs. We’re particularly excited about this partnership with A&K and their ability to leverage ALN’s network of law firms in 16 countries across the continent as it allows us to work with the best lawyers, entrepreneurs and law firms to create strong regulatory frameworks for blockchain-enabled capital markets across numerous jurisdictions…Clear frameworks for digital securities can unleash innovation in the security token space and enable SME financing and liquidity for private markets on an unprecedented scale.”
We recently detailed Raise in a partnership announced with iHUB. This article can be found HERE.
African Legal Network
The ALN is an alliance between various independent law firms throughout Africa. This group was the recipient of the ‘African Network/Alliance of the Year’, at the African Legal Awards in 2018.
Dominic Rebelo, a partner from Anjarwalla & Khanna, an ALN member, spoke on the partnership with Raise. He commented, “Our partnership with Raise aligns perfectly with our vision for the future of capital raising and securities trading across Africa and demonstrates A&K and ALN’s commitment to provide our clients with a seamless service across the Continent.”
Competitors
Raise is establishing themselves as a trailblazer within Africa. While much of the world has seen the rise of various companies developing security token frameworks, Africa has not. This has now changed, with Raise having a clear vision for the future.
While the sector is rapidly becoming competitive within North America with companies such as Securitize and Harbor popping up, Raise has the opportunity to dominate the African blockchain landscape.
A new ship finance platform by the name of New Shore Invest seeks to integrate blockchain technology into the sector. The firm will utilize the tech to create and issue equity-based limited partnership shares. The new strategy opens up the international shipping market to investors globally. Additionally, the move showcases the disruptive qualities that blockchain technology provides.
New Shore Invest’s fractional ownership will launch in Germany in Q1 2020. The firm intends to allow all retail investors to participate in the program which is loosely based on the outdated German KG model. The German KG financing model was popular in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, the system became obsolete following the 2008 financial crisis in which financing firms tightened their requirements significantly.
Discussing the revival strategy, Hanno Tamminga, founder of New Shore Invest, spoke on the importance of digitalizing the market. He explained how tokenization is important to ship owners because it provides them with access to fresh equity that was previously unavailable.
He wasn’t the only founder to praise the maneuver. Hannes Hollaender, co-founder and partner of New Shore took a second to discuss the firm’s plans moving forward. He explained that in order to excite investors, his company needed to find a strategy that was both “green and innovative.” He also described how the new system will fill the current gap of equity for shipowners.
KG shares
For its part, New Shore facilitates and structures limited partnership shares of single ship companies. These security tokens utilize advanced smart contracts. In this manner, all its rights and obligations according to the articles of association are directly integrated within the token’s protocol.
New Shore Invest via Homepage
Importantly, these tokens are to be ERC-1400 compliant. Basically, they will live on the Ethereum blockchain. The decision to utilize the ERC standard was a smart one on the part of New Shore Invest. For one, Ethereum’s ERC standards are by far the most popular tokenization option in the market. As such, they offer a variety of interoperability not found within other token types.
New Shore Invest STO
New Shore Invest’s strategy will break each tokenized ship company down and offer the shares to investors via STOs. This strategy is far more efficient than the original German KG model. Also. it provides a cost-efficient, secure, and faster alternative to the current business practices in the sector. For example, investors can purchase online and it only takes minutes to complete a transaction. Best of all, there are no fees for investors who participate.
New Shore Investors
According to company documents, all investors receive dividends based on the number of tokens they hold. Additionally, investors receive a profit share of any vessels sold. Finally, investors gain a handful of new liquidity as the new shares are able to be traded and transferred in a secondary market.
NorthCape Capital
The Oslo-based venture capital firm, NorthCape Capital was the main financier for the project. The company is no stranger to the sector. To date, NorthCape arranged and structured $ 18 billion of lease financing. Importantly, this financing was spread across both the maritime and aviation sectors
Time to Check Out the New Shore
Given the experience and large network, the New Shore platform incorporates, its no surprise to see this team succeed. The concept of tokenizing ship ownership puts a new age twist on one of the oldest financial services available. You can expect to see this firm expand its strategy into other areas of transport as the company begins to reap the benefits of its unique business model.
The security token issuance platform, Securitize achieved a major milestone for the entire security token community this week. The firm successfully enabled the very first-ever investment into a security token offering (STO) from an individual retirement account (IRA). The news demonstrates further security token adoption by traditional investment firms and a desire by more investors to participate in this expanding sector of finance.
Discussing the important milestone, Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder, and CEO at Securitize explained the overall excitement surrounding the project. He spoke of the importance of facilitating direct IRA investments to open the market. Domingo described how the new strategy provides millions of investors with direct access to new capital connected to the Securitize platform. He also took a moment to touch on what the developments meant for other digital securities issuers.
AltoIRA
In order to make this revolutionary concept a reality, Securitize created a strategic partnership with the alternative investment firm – AltoIRA. The firm directly integrating Securitize’s DS Protocol in order to automate the entire process. In this manner, interested parties can directly invest their IRA savings into alternative assets such as security tokens. Notably, the new system is far more cost-effective than traditional IRA investment methods.
Discussing the maneuver, Eric Satz, CEO at AltoIRA explained how “thrilled” his company was to be a part of the first-ever direct investment into digital securities via an IRA. He hopes that the integrations will help investors achieve a truly diversified portfolio moving forward. Lastly, he spoke on the limited market exposure security tokens received to date. Currently, around only 2% of all alternative assets are held within retirement funds such as IRAs and 401ks.
AltoIRA via Homepage – Securitize
Part of the reason for this lackluster market penetration is that traditional custodians lack the digital infrastructure to participate in these new markets. Now, AltoIRA users can enjoy access to tokenized private equity, venture capital, and real estate. Also, these users can now invest directly into cryptocurrency from their retirement accounts as well.
CityBlock Capital
For its part, AltoIRA chose to provide investors with access to the CityBlock Capital fund. The venture capital firm CityBlock Capital is best known for its flagship private fund. The fund has a focus on blockchain startups with the overall goal to simplify access to tokenized finance and digital asset trading.
Robert Nance, Managing Partner at CityBlock Capital explained why they choose to utilize the Securitize platform over the competition. He stated that Securitize is a leading solutions provider in the industry. He also spoke on the ability to unlock untapped liquidity via the use of blockchain technology.
Securitize Your Future
Securitize continues to expand the functionality of the entire blockchain sector. You can expect this latest venture to speed up security token adoption in a major way. Now IRA investors have new opportunities to participate in the new age economy as it develops.
After a sizable delay and numerous run-ins with NBA executives, it now appears that Brooklyn Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie will get to bring his tokenization strategy to the market. Dinwiddie took serious heat from the league when he announced plans to tokenize a portion of his contract. Now, after almost three months of delays, Dinwiddie’s token-based investment tool prepares to enter the market.
DREAM Fan Shares
Dinwiddie wants to let his fans own a portion of his contract via the DREAM fan shares platform. This blockchain-based tokenization strategy would allow Dinwiddie to digitize a portion of his contract. These tokenized shares would then be made available to fans seeking to increase their stake in the athlete’s career.
According to Dinwiddie, DREAM shares are set for a January 13th launch date. The date will coincide with Dinwiddie’s first career All-Star Game. In this manner, Dinwiddie can couple the publicity to further promote his unique tokenization strategy.
As part of this strategy, Dinwiddie seeks to sell 90 SD8 coins. Each coin represents a tokenized share in his $34 million contract. If successful, Dinwiddie will be able to collect up to $13.5 million of his guaranteed three-year agreement without having to wait until the final years of the contract. In essence, the agreement provides him with a new age business loan.
NBA Officials not Pleased
For their part, the NBA has been unapathetic towards the young player’s decision to tokenize his contract. These disagreements with the NBA came to a head when the league threatened to terminate his contract and ban him from the league during negotiations. Luckily, Dinwiddie instituted some changes to his strategy which alleviated much of the league’s concerns.
One of the main problems the NBA had with Dinwiddie’s original strategy had to do with his final years. In the original agreement, Dinwiddie wanted to provide his investors with a chance to make larger dividends if he were to acquire a more lucrative contract with Brooklyn or another team. This section struck NBA officials as problematic with some calling it gambling. Officials were so concerned they threatened to terminate his contract if the clause wasn’t removed.
Dinwiddie to Tokenize Contract
After four intense negotiations in person and three additional correspondences over the phone, Spencer Dinwiddie was able to secure league approval for his concept. Discussing the decision, he admitted that he never expected the league to support his idea fully. Luckily, he had some strong support for the plan from the Players Association. Also, he had a team of lawyers by his side to ensure that his rights were not violated.
Dinwiddie Just Changed the Game Forever
It’s not too often that a single player changes the game forever, but in this instance, Dinwiddie has utilized blockchain technology to provide more liquidity in the market. You can expect to see DREAM shares start to tokenize more athletes and entertainers’ contracts in the coming months. In this way, these individuals can cash out their multi-million dollar agreements without waiting years to do so.