Beyond the Hype: How Digital Platforms and Securities are Revolutionizing Capital Markets

Alan McGlade
seriesOne
Published in
3 min readAug 21, 2019

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Twenty years ago, at the peak of the dotcom frenzy, the Internet stocks closely tracked by Morgan Stanley had a collective market cap of $450 billion — even though none of these companies were making money. Shortly thereafter, the dot-com bubble burst and many of this first wave of Internet companies collapsed. In spite of companies failing, they introduced technology and business practices that fundamentally changed how we work, shop and communicate today.

Two decades later, after the hype of the ICO years during which tremendous sums of money changed hands for often worthless securities, we may be at a similar inflection point: companies and projects have faltered and investors have lost billions. Despite all the damage, ICOs have turned out to be a proof-of-concept, which will fundamentally change the process of capital formation.

Businesses and investors transcend borders

Today’s capital markets are linked to the country of origin and rely on paper-based systems that are inefficient, costly and opaque. Due to high average transaction costs, onerous listing requirements and complex legal and regulatory frameworks, many innovative businesses never attempt to go public on traditional exchanges. And while electronic trading of securities has become frictionless, the same improvements have not arrived to clearing, settlement and custody.

The expectations and requirements of present-day companies and investors stand in stark contrast to what legacy systems can deliver. Business have a global footprint and investors are seeking seamless, efficient ways to invest in global markets. They also want liquidity regardless of whether the company is public or private or resides within their home country.

The combination of online platforms and digital securities which leverage the opportunities of blockchain technology are poised to deliver on this new investing paradigm.

They will streamline capital formation by allowing for individual ownership of digital shares through tokens. They enable instant settlements so there is no counterparty risk which will eliminate billions of dollars in intermediary fees. They enhance transparency by providing a near real-time cap table for the issuer. Most importantly, digital securities can be traded, which offers the potential for 24/7 investor liquidity.

Building bridges to success

So, with all these advantages, why haven’t digital securities taken off like CBD oil and electric scooters? Before that can happen at scale, the infrastructure must be put in place to support the full range of transactional activities from conducting a primary offering of digital securities to subsequent trading of the securities on a digital exchange. All of this must occur in a fully compliant manner under the guidance of regulators.

And this is precisely what the key players in digital securities are focused on — seriesOne among them. We are building a global infrastructure to lift the financial services industry onto the blockchain and, ultimately, to bring digital securities into the mainstream of the financial world.

Financing and investing are inevitably going to migrate onto the blockchain. It provides capital markets with efficiencies, transparency, liquidity and new methods of conducting business that can’t be duplicated by the current systems. As with the birth of the Internet, once a new technology reveals what is possible, there is no going back. Let’s get ready to unlock trillions of dollars of illiquid assets through a shift to digital securities.

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Alan McGlade
seriesOne

Co-founder & COO of seriesOne. Alan has 20+ years of experience in taking companies from conceptual stage to significant market player as CEO and Board Member.