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Tokens of Appreciation? ACCESS A BROADER MARKET PERSPECTIVE TOKENS OF APPRE CIATIONBY KATY BURNE S S FIVE REASONS TO TOKENIZE • SIMPLER, FASTER AND CHEAPER CAPITAL RAISING • ACCESS TO BROADER SWATH OF POTENTIAL INVESTORS • MORE TRANSPARENCY FOR ALL PARTIES TO A TRANSACTION • INSTANT SETTLEMENT WITH FINALITY AND IMPROVED LIQUIDITY • POTENTIAL ELIMINATION OF UNNECESSARY MIDDLEMEN COVER ILLUSTRATION: MARK MCCORMICK MARKET PARTICIPANTS HOPE TO SPEED UP SETTLEMENT AND COLLATERAL TRANSFERS WITH DIGITAL TOKENS RECORDED ON THE BLOCKCHAIN BY KATY BURNE magine an integrated ecosystem right to property or delivery of an asset. registered broker dealer for tokenized in financial markets, where every Ownership changes are recorded on an securities. “We are using technolog- real-world asset is also repre- unalterable, shared digital ledger called ical innovation to provide enhanced I sented by a digital unit or token. a “blockchain,” similar to the infra- capabilities and advanced features to That token could be utilized and trans- structure underlying cryptocurrencies products that issuers/investors already ferred more efficiently than the phys- like bitcoin and ethereum. know and understand.” ical asset, introducing additional trans- The potential benefits of tokeniza- parency, 24/7 liquidity and instanta- tion are significant — both pre-trade, HYPE VS REALITY neous settlement to the investment for issuers who could save money by Tokenized assets can come in almost lifecycle. removing layers of friction in their any form, including as security tokens The concept of digitalizing own- normal workflows; and post-trade, referencing traditional units like stocks ership rights, in a process known as where the technology could be used and bonds, or non-traditional ones like “tokenization,” is the latest hot topic for efficiencies in things like collateral artwork or music. Central bank curren- sweeping the boardrooms of broker- transfers and trade reconciliation. cies can also be tokenized. In fact, pro- ages, fund-management companies Distributed ledger technology (DLT) ponents in Canada and Singapore have and banks. Some see it as having the has digital signatures in it that govern already tried it. potential to reduce operational costs the transfer of token ownership and “It doesn’t change the nature of and minimize the number of market allow peer firms to exchange value the asset; it just changes its texture venues and intermediaries needed in directly. These trades are recorded as and enables it to be more liquid,” says capital raising. distinct events on the blockchain. Then Subhankar Sinha, head of blockchain at Tokenization could also reshape the issuers, as well as other eligible partic- BNY Mellon. investing landscape by connecting up ipants in the transaction, can use it to One of the primary use cases is in issuers to a more diverse set of buyers see who owns what — and any move- real estate. For instance, there was the and sellers, who may consider frac- ment in the chain — simultaneously, in tokenization of an $18 million stake tions of assets more attractive and near real time. in the St. Regis hotel resort in Aspen, affordable. “We’re not reinventing the capital Colo., a few years ago, although other Here’s how tokenization works: the markets wheel,” says Timothy Furey, recent deals — including a student digital token references someone’s CEO of ConsenSys Digital Securities, a housing deal from Convexity Properties FUTURE PERFECT? How equities, commercial real estate and currency could be tokenized and traded between a broad set of participants. FOR SALE TOKENIZATION DIGITALIZED ASSET TRADING SOURCE: BNY MELLON and a venture between Fluidity and So far, the hype has not been recorded about the deal and guaran- Propellr — have reportedly faltered. matched with broad investor participa- teed its security. Another asset class being explored tion, in part because of the time it will “One cannot dismiss the presump- by tokenization experts is commodi- take for platforms and other infrastruc- tion that there will be a benefit of ties. A Russian billionaire reportedly ture to be built and adopted. Tokenized increased liquidity to investors, but wants to tokenize palladium, while the deals to date have faced a range of I don’t think at this point that can Perth Mint in Australia is looking to challenges in how they were offered, be said with any certainty,” says Nic tokenize gold. structured and distributed, says Ian Niedermowwe, CEO of crypto-ded- Structurally, there are many options Taylor, head of advisory services at icated fund management company for how these offerings can come to Galaxy Digital, a digital-assets-focused Prime Factor Capital. market. There are tokenized securities merchant bank. “While I am confident tied to equity or debt, for example; these markets will develop, issuers DISRUPTIVE FORCES “utility” tokens representing services are, quite wisely, being cautious until Tokenizing traditional financial assets or infrastructure; tokenized money we see demonstrated engagement from isn’t a far-fetched concept. Indeed, dig- linked to fiat or crypto currency; and investors,” he notes. italized securities have been around for “stablecoins,” a kind of cryptocurrency Andrew Keys, co-founder of hedge decades. American Depositary Receipts whose values are pegged to fiat curren- fund Digital Asset Risk Management are already an analog representation of cies like the U.S. dollar. Advisors (DARMA Capital), says it is too shares in non-U.S. companies, issued Security tokens are attractive early for him to put money to work in elsewhere in the world but listed in because they may enable private-equity security tokens, but he is bullish about U.S. markets. shareholders to exit their investments their potential. He was among a group Most stock certificates are also faster than the typical seven- to 10-year that helped the Monetary Authority stored electronically, thanks to a pro- time horizon, notes Juan Hernandez, of Singapore issue a token tied to cess called “dematerialization,” which co-CEO of Openfinance Network, a sec- Singapore dollars in an initiative called was extended after Hurricane Sandy in ondary trading venue. One of its recent Project Ubin. 2012 flooded a lower Manhattan vault listings was a tokenized venture capital Parties to a digital ledger may be and forced settlement giant Depository fund for Blockchain Capital. Those more likely to trust the origins of the Trust & Clearing Corp. to send tons of tokens sold in 2017 for $1 apiece and as assets underlying tokenized offerings the certificates away to be freeze dried. of Feb. 17 were valued at $3.69. if an agent has verified the information Today, tokenization is about “ It doesn’t change the nature of the asset; it just changes its texture and enables it to be more liquid.” —SUBHANKAR SINHA, BNY MELLON marrying up traditional financial prod- banks governing any one of five cur- targeted for digital disruption: from ucts with new blockchain technology. rencies (CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD) and bonds issued by Daimler, Société Most large banks are investing in some then exchange digital settlement assets Générale and the World Bank, to cross- proof-of-concepts so as to be ready referencing those deposits instanta- border payments, trade finance and for what they anticipate could be a neously, without middlemen. The mutual funds. rapid evolution in age-old settlement project is set to be extended beyond BNY Mellon is partnering with procedures. the initial 15 stakeholders in due a blockchain trade-finance initia- For its part, BNY Mellon is eager to course, according to Rhomaios Ram, tive called the Marco Polo Network, digitize its existing capabilities and CEO of Fnality. founded by TradeIX and R3. And leverage blockchain technology to “This is the evolution of money,” says Franklin Templeton Investments in improve its interactions with clients. Lucien Foster, head of digital partner- September filed a preliminary pro- As one of the world’s largest custo- ships at BNY Mellon. “We’re going from spectus to register a new kind of block- dian overseeing $37.1 trillion as of Dec. the old days of stock certificates being chain-enabled money market fund, 31, 2019, the bank has a series of toke- run across Wall Street to digital tokens where the fund’s shares can be sold and nization development projects under that can be moved and settled with a redeemed on an app. way to learn about different use cases, keystroke.” any risks to its adoption and what mar- The growth in blockchain technology CHANGING THE GAME ketplace frictions it can remove for cli- has also inspired a slew of related digiti- Among the most exciting projects sur- ents. For example, the bank is working zation projects at BNY Mellon. In 2016, rounding tokenization are platforms to issue bonds and syndicated loans on the bank created a blockchain-based, that would allow for participants to a digital ledger. parallel record of all its broker-dealer exchange collateral instantly in toke- Another such project is the bank’s clearance and collateral management nized form. participation as one of 15 shareholders transactions. The so-called “BDS 360” In October, New York fintech startup in the Fnality Global Payments initia- project is key because the bank pro- Paxos received temporary regulatory tive, formerly called Utility Settlement cesses more than $10 trillion in Fed- relief to launch a settlement service Coin, a digital payments system eligible securities each day. for the simultaneous exchange of cash designed to leverage the tokenization
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