Malta, an Island in the Medteranian* is to become the "the island of blockchain".
To become the Island of Blockchain though, they needed one last piece to the puzzle which Neufund is helping to fund, A decentralised bank owned and governed via smart contracts by the ETO (equity token offering) token owners.
That means anyone who owns the tokens, owns shares in the bank and votes to dictate it's future, This is the most pioneering aspect of the new bank: customers will decide what solutions will be used through a blockchain-style governance model based on smart contracts.
Why Malta?
Malta’s Blockchain ecosystem grew rapidly over the last year, with the biggest crypto companies relocating and engaging with the EU member state: Binance, Neufund and BitBay.
Silvio Schembri, the Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation said Malta will be “the first world jurisdiction to provide legal certainty to this space.”
The DLT/Blockchain bills approved by the Malta’s Parliament on 4th of July created a fertile environment for blockchain companies and cleared the uncertainties surrounding the market for decentralized assets, while also establishing direct communications with blockchain leaders
“We are honored to be chosen as the location of the first global community-owned bank,”said Silvio Schembri.
What is Founders Bank?
Founders Bank will become the first “associative” hi-tech stable banking solution, which will become the property of its own investors and founders, thus breaking the bridges between the traditional financial world and the most innovative crypto societies.
There are a few hurdles, bank would need a license from regulators in Malta, a member of the European Union, and approval from the European Central Bank. With the backing it has financially already though, I'm positive they will find a way.
"We are proud to announce the emergence of banking solutions designed to meet the needs of decentralized businesses, with the support of blockchain industry leaders, including Binance and Neufund,”said Michael Bianchi , Founder Bank Chairman and Co-Founder.
The effort to bridge the digital-token industry with conventional banking is the latest push by Binance, whose Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao last week said his platform expects a profit of $500 million to $1 billion in 2018.
Disclaimer
As always, this is not financial advice, just compressed information and opinions. Always do your own research!
The equity-token sale would be conducted under German regulations in collaboration with one of Europe’s major stock exchanges later this year, Binance said.
Binance (an exchange worth billions) CEO Changpeng " CZ" Zhao is one of the first investors in Founders Bank
He has a 5 percent stake alongside other anchor investors at a 133 million-euro ($155 million) pre-money valuation.
binance ceo “We are not only excited to be one of the first investors of this inclusive community for this pioneering initiative, but also look forward to explore the full range of its banking services. We continue to be delighted by the vibrant blockchain opportunities in Malta, and look forward to launching more partnerships in the region.”
As part of the supervisory board and the management of the company, there are experienced entrepreneurs and top experts in the financial industry including Michael Bianchi (chairman of the board), Abdalla Kablan, Martin Bruncko, André Eggert, Pavel Bodark, Sonal Kadchha, Paula Pandolfino and Jonathon Gowen, who have professional experiences in large companies and high-profile organizations such as Barclays, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, the European Commission, the World Bank, Deloitte, and the OECD. Quoted from the cryptonomist
Why invest?
This is a world first, it's backed by experts who are successful, influential and have a strong financial backing.
It's in a regulated space and abides by the law which will allow institutional investors join the crypto buzz, this has been what has restrained institutional money to date, with a BTC ETF possibility around the corner, we could how much funding has been sidelined.
How to invest?
Neufund is a blockchain platform. The Berlin startup specializes in the tokenisation of the real economy and offers fundraising solutions through ICO for traditional businesses.
The ETO is set to happen later in 2018, to invest you will need Euro's or Eth as the project is ERC-20.
You will need to sign up to Neufund to invest, the current date isn't set yet but we will posting further as we get updates, follow us on Facebook to ensure you don't miss out.