I'll start with a bit of explanation for those unfamiliar. Securities Tokens, or Equity Based Tokens, are basically digital tokens (NOT CRYPTOCURRENCY) that represent an asset. This can be done with any type of traditional asset, be it company stock, commodities, ETF, etc. I stress that it is not cryptocurrency because while they are based in blockchain technology, they are backed by REAL WORLD ASSETS. They won't be faced with the same regulatory issues or problems converting back to usable cash that crypto experiences. They are the exact same financial instruments we know and love, just in a different container. With that being said, the process of cashing out will largely go unchanged as this is governed by the financial regulators. The goal of the companies pioneering this new sector is to augment our current trading systems by integrating the useful aspects of blockchain and tokenization. Representing assets as blockchain tokens provides several advantages. Settlement times are lowered, transparency and auditability are improved, and costs go down, to name only a few. Many projects are already underway to develop the regulated exchanges for such assets. NASDAQ developed Linq for private market. Overstock.com has their t-Zero exchange in the works. Circle acquired Poloniex and is working with the SEC to make it compliant with regulations, just as Coinbase is doing (Poloniex and Coinbase may just be doing this to stay on the right side of the SEC, but it does create the option for them to deal in real equity) Another project arising early in this game is The Hybrid Stock Exchange (HYBSE) which aims to lower barriers to entry in capital markets for small to medium sized enterprises, and open up investment opportunity in underrepresented regions. So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think this is the next step in financial markets? Much like the telephone and later the internet, increasing transaction speed, operational efficiency, and access to markets?
