The island nation of Malta, which has been working towards getting the global identity of ‘blockchain island’ - is all set to record a historic first in the world of Fin-Tech, as it plans to launch a decentralized global stock exchange. This is a collaborative effort of the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE), its innovations wing MSX, along with German blockchain firm Neufund and cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Malta’s cryptocurrency and blockchain based legislations, as well as the nation’s relaxed laws have been attracting many blockchain firms to the country. Earlier this year, Berlin-based Neufund, which also has an office in Malta, had announced that they were working with the government of Malta. This collaboration over the months has now laid the foundation for this decentralized stock exchange. Last year, Neufund had raised $11 Million in a funding round.
The primary objective of creating this decentralized global exchange is that tokenized securities can also be listed alongside cryptocurrency assets. While most major cryptocurrency exchanges easily accept mainstream crypto assets, security tokens have a hard time finding platforms for listing. Neufund claims that this exchange, when fully operational, would become the first ever ‘end-to-end primary issuance platform’ for security (and especially equity) tokens.
This is a good move considering that equity tokens are expected to hit a market cap of over a trillion US Dollars by 2020. In a statement to CCN, Zoe Adamovicz, CEO and Co-founder at Neufund, said:
“We are thrilled to announce the partnerships with the Malta Stock Exchange and Binance, that will ensure high liquidity to equity tokens issued on Neufund. It is the first time in history, that security tokens can be offered and traded in a legally binding way. The upcoming pilot project will allow us to test the market’s reaction and realize the overall project idea in an environment with minimized risk.”
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, one of the most prominent voices in the world of cryptocurrencies, commented on this partnership with neufund - saying that this would lead to creation of an ecosystem for issuing and trading security tokens. Many in the crypto-community resonate with Zhao’s comments as they feel that there is a strong need for such ecosystems to be developed where securities and equity tokens can be listed and traded.
Malta, The ‘Blockchain Island’
The Government of Malta has been trying to bring in foreign investments by pushing their ‘blockchain island’ image forward. The island nation continues to introduce new laws and regulations which are highly supportive of these technologies. The biggest boost to Malta’s image as the ‘blockchain island’ came when Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, announced that it is shifting its headquarters to Malta.
Since then, a number of firms have begun setting up their offices in the country. Following Binance, other major names such as BitBay too, have decided to move their base to Malta. The government of Malta too has been keeping their end of promise and has been approving a number of blockchain and cryptocurrency related laws. The government has been consulting a number of cryptocurrency and blockchain experts when it comes to developing their legal framework.
Binance has been at the forefront of the cryptocurrency revolution in Malta. The company has been investing in various projects over time - and has promised jobs in the country too. Binance has finally set up Maltese bank accounts and the process to move operations to Malta has officially begun. The company has also invested in banks in the country. It will be interesting to see how this Neufund and Binance powered exchange turns out to be.
