Neufund partners with Malta Stock Exchange and Binance to create a decentralized global stock exchange

Things move fast in the world of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and distributed ledger technologies.

Only three months after announcing it was working with Malta’s government — embracing the country’s new Distribute Ledger Technology (DLT) Regulation — blockchain fundraising platform Neufund is taking the next logical step.

Berlin-based Neufund has announced today that it is collaborating with MSX, the innovation vehicle of the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) and is also partnering with cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

The aim is to create a regulated and decentralized stock exchange for listing and trading tokenized securities alongside crypto assets. All parties will run a pilot project to establish the parameters for a global platform.

Neufund claims that as a result of the partnership, this will become the first end-to-end primary issuance platform for security tokens — in particular, equity tokens. That’s important. According to CapLinked, the market cap of equity tokens alone is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2020.

The pace at which Neufund is moving is a shot in the arm for the blockchain technology industry. After raising $11 million last year, the company has opened an office in Malta and launched its Equity Token Offering (ETO) platform. Many blockchain projects have yet to see the light of day, so when the likes of Neufund and others exhibit progress against the investments made, it helps the entire ecosystem.

Seven companies have already decided to conduct an ETO with Neufund, including Founders Bank, Brille24, Uniti, MySwooop, Next Big Thing, Blockstate, and Emflux Motors.

“We are thrilled to announce the partnerships with Malta Stock Exchange and Binance that will ensure high liquidity to equity tokens issued on Neufund,” Neufund CEO and cofounder Zoe Adamovicz said. “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.”

The collaboration is yet another addition to the Blockchain Island ecosystem in Malta. The EU member state recently passed the DLT and blockchain bills that cleared the path for companies to grow their startups on the island.

The Malta Stock Exchange has recently announced a dedicated platform and a startup accelerator that will focus on DLT and blockchain technology initiatives, with financial support from Binance. Malta’s Blockchain Island is due to host Delta Summit, a conference focused on the DLT industry, to promote its support for blockchain startups.

At the speed the market is moving, almost everything will have changed yet again by the time doors open on that event.

TrustToken is using blockchain to improve the trustworthiness of investments and transactions, and the company is issuing more tokens that will enable investors to take advantage of the benefits of tokenization. For the first time, the company today will accept public investment on the CoinList platform from accredited investors.

TrustToken allows individuals and institutions to more easily trade cryptocurrencies within and across exchanges, which could bring institutional investors into investments in cryptocurrency. This enabled the company to raise $20 million last month in private strategic funding from a16z crypto, BlockTower Capital, Danhua Capital, GGV Capital, Jump Capital, and other leading investment firms.

TrustToken has an opportunity because other cryptocurrencies have been too volatile. As the value of a Bitcoin and Ether went up — and then came down — it became a lot harder to use the cryptocurrencies in ordinary transactions. By backing the currencies with hard assets such as the U.S. dollar, TrustToken’s stablecoin brings dependability to the price of cryptocurrency, and that makes it more tradable.

Registrations are now open for the next round of TrustToken’s token sale. TrustToken is making its staking tokens available to accredited investors on CoinList. If institutional investors get off the sidelines and invest in cryptocurrency, that could bring much more money into the ecosystem, TrustToken believes.

CoinList is a leading platform for token-based financial services. CoinList is highly selective; each offering goes through a rigorous diligence process before receiving approval to be made available to CoinList investors.

TrustToken is a platform for creating asset-backed tokens that you can easily buy and sell around the world. These tokens are trusted because you can exchange them for real assets.

For example, gold tokens are backed by gold, and dollar tokens are backed by dollars. TrustToken’s first asset token is TrueUSD, a stablecoin that you can redeem 1-for-1 for U.S. dollars. With redeemability facilitating price stability, the token has surged in popularity with individual and institutional traders, reaching over $85 million in market value in just four months of trading. That’s up from $12 million in its first two months.

Accredited investors may register at CoinList.co through July 17 to participate in the latest TrustToken offering, which opens today. The offering has a hard cap of $61 million allocated over three tranches priced at 12 cents, 14 cents, and 16 cents per TrustToken (TRU). Since this 435 million token offering is the first TrustToken accredited public sale, the structure consists of increasing-price tranches to allow for proper distribution of TRU tokens depending on purchaser demand. Any unsold TRU tokens will be sold in future rounds.

“Having CoinList offer our round to their investors means we can connect to sophisticated global traders and increase participation in the TrustToken platform,” said TrustToken CEO Danny An, in a statement. “The funds raised in the CoinList round will enable us to build upon the success of the TrueUSD stablecoin and expand with the creation of tokens backed by Euro, Yen, and real-world assets.”

To make it even easier to invest, TrueUSD has also been added as a quote currency on the HitBTC and HBUS exchanges. That makes it the only fully collateralized, dollar-backed stablecoin on the exchanges. HBUS has $50 billion in cryptocurrency assets traded on its exchange.

Getting on these exchanges as quote currencies is important because the exchanges can trade hundreds of coins valued at hundreds of millions in a day, but they need stable currencies to handle those trades, which may often involve conversion into several currencies.

In the TrueUSD system, U.S dollars are held in the escrow accounts of multiple trust companies rather than in a bank account controlled by a single company. The contents of the TrueUSD escrow account are verified by an independent third-party accountant (Cohen & Company) that publishes monthly attestation reports of the amount of dollars held as collateral.

If someone wants to purchase TrueUSD through the web application, they will need to pass AML/KYC requirements. When that is complete, they send dollars to one of TrueUSD’s trust company partners. After the funds are verified by the trust company, the TrueUSD smart contract issues tokens on a 1-to-1 ratio before sending the newly minted TrueUSD tokens to the purchaser.

Once in a wallet, TrueUSD tokens can be transferred or used as payment, combining the benefits of fiat (stability and trust) with the advantages of cryptocurrency (lower fees and faster transfer times). An individual can also redeem real U.S. dollars by sending the TrueUSD tokens back to the smart contract address, which will notify the trust company and initiate a bank transfer to the token holder’s account.

TrustToken has 20 employees and is hiring more. The company is working on several new products, including the gold-backed token TrueGold.