Today Japan’s SBI Securities said it’s ready to get involved with security token offerings (STOs) after updating its registration, so it’s legally compliant. Specifically, it can offer blockchain-based security tokens to its retail customers.
The company also said it would handle over-the-counter transactions for the secondary trading of tokens that it has issued.
Tokenized corporate bonds were the first type of security tokens mentioned, and SBI is an investor in the Nomura BOOSTRY platform, which is working on a tokenized bond solution. Last year it issued a security token for another SBI subsidiary, SBI e-Sports.
But this is only a tiny part of its ambitions that include a digital assets joint venture in Singapore with Swiss stock exchange SIX. In Osaka, it’s planning a blockchain-powered digital securities exchange in association with SMBC. And it’s an investor in the Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange.
The SBI Group is also a member of the Japan STO Association, an industry body that boasts most of the Japanese securities sector as members.
Last year Japan’s government amended the Settlement of Funds and Financial Instruments and Exchange Acts to enable STOs. The changes mean that STO’s need to adhere to registration requirements such as semi-annual reporting and maintaining records of the management’s holdings.
