Security Tokens as Friday Links

We’re going full securitization. The SEC has been cracking down on utility tokens for several months now, the most newsworthy event was Munchee back in December, but since then quite a few tokens have been quietly removed from exchanges while the companies themselves undergo a review of whether or not their token triggers a securities clause, as defined by the SEC. Many of these companies are legitimate businesses looking to create a real tokenized product and are busy making sure they are meeting any and all compliance requirements to get re-listed (Metalpay is a good example). The truth is, however, that the clear majority of the utility tokens out there have a paper-thin use case for utility and do belong naturally as securities. But what does that mean for the crypto space and how would securitized tokens change the crypto markets as we’re just getting to know them?

Let’s be clear on this main point: Security tokens will be the story of 2018. Security token platforms like tZERO and Polymath are just now completing their ICO’s or distributing their tokens and getting their businesses launched. They are the louder examples in the space but many platforms are following in their steps. Security tokens, in short, give provide certain amounts of shareholder rights, in some cases pay dividends, and in others may more closely resemble the structure of SPV’s in traditional private placement investments. Traditional securities, like gold, are already looking at tokenizing as security tokens. Before long, portional investments in real property will be liquidly tradable on security platforms like polymath. ETF’s too, are looking to tokenize. Here is JP Morgan talking about Bitcoin ETF’s being a game changer, but what about shares in those very same ETF’s being tokenized and traded on Polymath? By the fall of 2018, these will be the tokens most discussed most in the industry.