If someone told you back in 2013 that 1 BTC would equal to almost 20k USD in December 2017 would you have believed him? You would’ve most likely dismissed that person as a lunatic as that would never possibly happen! Yet here we are in September 2018, and BTC is at a price that no one would’ve ever imagined. The underlying technology, the blockchain, is currently experiencing the same disbelief. With the help of decentralisation, tokenisation and Smart Contracts, this disruptive technology is ready to take on Wall Street! The question remains, how could an asset class that’s not even 1 trillion even dare to pose a threat to the multi-trillion yet centralised industry?
While the answer might be simple, it will take some time until it manifests itself, but once it does it’s going to be one of those “a ha!” moments that will make us wonder how we could have possibly even done it otherwise? To further illustrate the power of this technology let’s think about a couple of examples:
1. Tokenize Exotic Cars, Art Pieces and even Diamonds
If you ever wanted to own a piece of Picasso or a limited edition Ferrari, blockchain technology has the solution for you! Specialized companies could create special Smart Contracts that “break” these assets into a set number of pieces that can be owned by anyone willing to pay the price for it. The trade of such commodities could also be made on a 24/7 basis as crypto exchanges work non-stop thus tapping into high levels of liquidity.
2. Tokenize Real Estate from all over the Globe
With the help of tokenisation, you can also own a piece of a villa in Tuscany, Italy and property in Hawaii for the price set by the token issuer. Realtors and Real Estate Owners have a tremendous opportunity with blockchain as they can create custom tokens that amount to say, one token = 1 square foot of a property. Interested parties around the world can bid on these assets as they are backed by the real estate instated by the token issuer.
3. Tokenize the next Google and Uber!
One of the most potent sectors that blockchain technology will disrupt is the Venture Capital Investments. The traditional way of VC investing does not favour retail investors at all. In fact, all of these specialised firms have a multi-billion capital pool at their disposal making sure that they get the best return-on-investment. By the time a company is going through it’s Initial Public Offering, these VC firms have made billions already. This is bound to change as we will examine below the most promising tokenised investment companies:
Spice Venture Capital
This blockchain company is looking to tap into currently-illiquid asset classes like real estate, equity and Funds through a shift from signed documents and certificates to tokens that can be traded on virtually any blockchain infrastructure. Long story short, Spice is looking to issue Security Token projects that are holding a multi-trillion market cap in the usual security issuances currently. Spice had a Private token sale for institutional investors. The currently disclosed companies under SPICE are Securitize, a tokenised ownership company that managed to deliver 30 million USD in it’s the first year of functioning and SAGA a stable cryptocurrency specifically built for the security token ecosystems, backed by prominent names from JPMorgan.
Polymath Securities Platform
Polymath prides itself as the go-to platform for Security issuances. The founders make a comparison between ETH and POLY as they serve the same scope, the only difference is that Ethereum is suitable mostly for the publication of utility tokens while Polymath wants to provide the same base infrastructure for companies and funds who wish to tokenise their securities on the Blockchain. The advantages are the same, 24/7 access to liquid markets and the ability to create programmable equity systems while also tapping into the 2 billion unbanked.
To issue a security token is a bureaucratic nightmare for everyone involved, Polymath strives to take on that burden by allowing issuers to focus on more important factors of their offering.
22X Fund and investing in the next Silicon Valley
Similar to the other two investment funds, the 22X Fund is comprised of a handful of Angel Investors and Venture Capital Individuals who want to create an investment index that can be tokenised. Their current roster includes over 500 Startups that are going through their Accelerator program. The business proposition is simple yet powerful and efficient; they are looking to tokenise 10% of these 500 startups open to anyone willing to invest. Needless to say that once these companies become profitable, the initial investment might pay hefty dividends.
The Oryx Investment Ecosystem: Redefining Blockchain Investment Platforms!
The Oryxian platform together with OryxCash and OryxCoin plans to revolutionise the way we think about venture capital investments. The business proposition is straightforward, with the help of the Oryx Pay module you purchase OryxCash tokens that are in turn invested in promising startups. Once the funded companies start to raise profit, dividends are paid back to the investors in the form of Oryx Coins. Holders then have two choices: they can either exchange the tokens into their real store of value or decide to reinvest them with the help of OryxCash and go through the profit cycle all over again.
The platform allows investors to compound their profits easily thus making the Oryx Index an attractive long-term investment. Not to mention that the network has already acquired some key infrastructure companies like Nickets, Moventz and the unparalleled bandwidth capabilities of Nihilo blockchain that offers securitised solutions for enterprise-level payments. The holders of the Oryx tokens will also have custom offers should they decide to use these platforms that are under the Oryx umbrella. Go to https://oryxian.com/ico/ to find out more about the currently ongoing ICO.
So there you have it! These are currently the most prominent projects that plan to take the world of securities by storm with the power of blockchain and retail liquidity!