Today Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB) announced that it issued its first security token using the Securitize platform. The issuance involved creating a trust company to manage the underlying securitized investments. Usually, investors have ownership in the trust through a paper-based beneficiary certificate. But in this case, the certificate was converted into a blockchain-based security token and the tokens were issued in a private placement.
There’s a portal that Securitize provides where SMTB can manage investors and the process, including compliance, and investors can also access documents relating to the token and its status.
U.S.-based Securitize has a Japanese division and several high profile Japanese investors, although to our knowledge, SMTB is not one of them. Some of the Japanese investors include Nomura, MUFG, SBI, Sony Financial Ventures, Mitsui Fudosan and KDDI. The startup is also working with NTT Data on a security token platform and has launched a tokenized real estate solution.
Tokenized securities and Security Token Offerings are gradually getting more attention, with Japan as a hotbed of activity. On Friday, SBI Securities announced it had altered its compliance registration and can issue security tokens to retail investors.
Some predict that the inflection point for the adoption of digital securities for private stocks, bonds and real estate is just one to two years away.
