Italy and security tokens; Ontology’s ONT ID; Mazzanti and STOKR give us an industry first
For the Week Ending February 28th, 2021
Welcome to this week’s industry newsletter!
This week, we cover security token regulation in Italy, the strong value propositions coming from CoinShares and Ontology, as well as world firsts in the realm of security token investing.
Join us for this week’s highlights…
1. Italy’s Foray into Security Tokens
This week, Italy’s securities regulator signaled that it is open to discuss how to incorporate security tokenization into its regulatory ecosystem and thus promote Italy’s fintech sector and its growth.
This news came in the form of a webinar which featured key opinion leaders on the matter, as the securities regulator seeks to find a suitable regulatory framework. Until now, Italy has sought to follow the EU’s lead on such matters. (Finance Magnates)
1. CoinShares’ new Exchange-Traded Product
Europe’s biggest digital asset investment house, CoinShares, has announced its launch of a physically backed ETP, or Exchange-Traded Product. The ETP will allow investors to purchase physical Ethereum (ETHE), each unit of which is backed by .03 ether, and which is available for trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
The point of the new crypto asset product, according to CoinShares, is to “‘provide institutions with easy access to industry leading crypto investment vehicles.’” (BeInCrypto)
2. Ontology provides compliance solutions for STOs on Binance Smart Chain
In a substantial step for decentralization, Ontology, a blockchain platform, and Binance Smart Chain, one of the most popular digital currency exchanges in the world, have announced that the two partners will leverage the decentralized identity solution, ONT ID, to complete security and compliance processes on Binance Smart Chain.
ONT ID seeks to address the pain point of investor verification and simultaneous identity protection during the STO process. Ontology also touts this solution as one that makes the compliance part of the STO process less time consuming. (Crowdfund Insider)
1. CI Global Asset Management files for Ethereum ETF
CI Global Asset Management, a firm based out of Toronto, Ontario, has announced its filing for what would be “the first ETF in the world to invest directly in Ether, the cryptocurrency built on the Ethereum blockchain.”
This comes after the filing of its CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF. This, like other ETFs, has the mission to reduce barrier-to-entry for would-be investors. (Yahoo! Finance)
2. Mazzanti becomes the first supercar manufacturer to raise funds via STO
Mazzanti, an Italian luxury car manufacturer, has just launched an STO on investment platform STOKR, making it the first “supercar brand in the world to raise funds in the form of digital securities — and allow its investors a revenue share via an STO.”
The funds from the STO will be used to produce a “special edition of Mazzanti’s flagship hypercar”. The token’s symbol is MZZ, and is priced at 1EUR per token with a minimum investment of 50EUR. (FinTech Magazine)
That wraps it up for this week’s highlights!
Until next week👋
References
Regulatory News
1. “Italy’s Consob Consults on Regulation of Securities Token Offerings”
Industry Updates
1. “CoinShares Rolls Out a Physically-Backed ETH Exchange-Traded Product”
2. “Compliant Security Token Offerings May be Conducted with Binance Smart Chain enabled Digital Identity Solutions from Ontology”
Investment and Financing
1. “CI Global Asset Management Files Preliminary Prospectus for World’s First Ether ETF”
2. “Luxury car-maker Mazzanti raises funds on STOKR”
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RedBlock Inc is a digital investment and fintech firm leveraging blockchain technology for asset digitization and management, from issuance to secondary liquidity. Its global network of capital market participants, including issuers, broker-dealers, secondary exchanges, funds, liquidity providers and custodians, are supported by its end-to-end blockchain-powered asset management platform. RedBlock also manages an investment fund to support companies in its ecosystem that align with its investment thesis. With a growing track record and pipeline, the RedBlock team hails from top tier global investment banks, venture capital firms and blockchain technology companies.
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