In late November 2017 Bitcoin, Blockchain and fintech investment platform BnkToTheFuture, which is well-known as a pioneer in the Bitcoin market with investments in BitFinex, BitStamp, Kraken, ShapeShift, BitPay and over 100 others, announced plans to open a secondary market for the trading of security tokens in Blockchain-based companies. In early January 2018, the company started a pre-sale and raised $30 mln within 15 hours. BnkToTheFuture plans to launch a secondary market in Q3 2018. It will use a Blockchain ledger to keep record of those investments for clients.
When success is predictable
Founded in 2010, BnkToTheFuture is a Cayman Islands-based investment platform with British and Hong Kong roots that works both with individuals and institutional investors and specialized in investments for Bitcoin, Blockchain and fintech companies through its platform.
The company generated almost $300 mln of investments since 2015. This is not surprising at all, considering the fact that BnkToTheFuture became one of the first firms in financial history that set about allowing to invest online in private equity right after Bitcoin was launched in 2009.
After BnkToTheFuture revealed its plans of creating a Blockchain-based secondary market, Bloomberg Technology compared it to ‘the likes of the Nasdaq Private Market, but it’s focused on Blockchain and fintech companies.’
Considering the substantial amount of money spent on investment by the platform’s more than 50,000 qualified investors since 2015, this move to create a securities token market will probably be meeting a demand for those who would like to sell their equity. “By year-end, we could have a big percent of the major companies in the sector on our platform,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Dixon said to Bloomberg in an interview.
An open play with equities
The whole idea of setting up a securities token market for Blockchain equities reminds of a marketplace where investors will swap their stakes by buying and selling equity-backed tokens. BnkToTheFuture is issuing a token (BFT) in February 2018 that can be used to reward and pay those that provide due diligence services delivered on the platform. Investors will be able to be rewarded for conducting deal analysis, due diligence and providing investor updates, among others using the token.
The firm aims to support the sale of equity stakes securely and transparently. It plans to use the Blockchain to record all transactions made within the market to ensure ultimate security and transparency. The platform will be built on top of Ethereum’s Blockchain where it will allow whitelisted qualifying investors to sell and buy equity backed tokens easily.
BnkToTheFuture will sell an additional $3 mln in a token sale that starts on Feb. 6th, 2018 for those that want to use the token. According to the project’s white paper, the public sale will be limited to 300 to 3,000 purchasers only who wish to purchase approximately from $1,000 to $10,000 worth of the token.
Simon Dixon, CEO of BnkToTheFuture, said in a statement, “The ICO boom proved that there is a huge appetite to allocate funds to Blockchain technology when a liquid secondary market exists. If they had the choice, I think most would have preferred to trade shares in the company rather than tokens with no shareholder rights. With the current regulatory landscape, we feel the time is right to bring ICO style trading and liquidity to the private equity markets all through a compliance-driven platform.”
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