In early August, the Seychelles Stock Exchange became the first in the world to list a tokenized security for negotiation. MERJ is licensed by the Financial Services Authority of the Indian Ocean’s country as a securities exchange, clearing agency and central securities depository (CSD), and is releasing the token to represent its own assets.
According to MERJ CEO, Edmond Tuohy, the exchange has fully increased its ecosystem end-to-end for purposes of delivering the world’s first publicly listed security token.
“We are combining the best of the old and new world to provide a key part of the infrastructure that is lacking for the growth of digital assets.”
He explains that the stock exchange has been working for three years with regulators to create a robust and compatible bulwark for issuers wishing to leverage the benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in a publicly listed environment. “Regardless of whether they are issuing traditional shares or token, the companies will not want to go to a jurisdiction that does not meet international standards because it will attract greater scrutiny from global regulators”, says Tuohy.
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How does the Seychelles stock Exchange token work?
The stock exchange is using the Ethereum blockchain to register ownership of the stock record. Thus, the company claims this is currently the best option for supporting its tokens. The asset carries the symbol “MERJ-S” and was being negotiated at the time that this article was published at US$ 2.42, with a declared market value of US$ 21 million.
MERJ had also stated that it will follow the listing, offering 16% of the tokenized shares in a public offering at the end of 2019. The exchange is also discussing with “several companies” about the possibility of listing the tokenized shares on other platforms.
In addition, according to information from CoinDesk, in the future, MERJ also intends to implement new actions. One of these plans is to cut costs for investors and issuers using the blockchain technology to streamline a series of securities markets processes. This would include issuance, shareholder records, compliance, distribution and voting.
“The technology creates an access door to the capital market, which is particularly suited to the ecosystems of ‘first mobiles’ in many emerging markets”, the company said.
