Seychelles’ National Stock Exchange Launches First Tokenized IPO For International Investors

Seychelles national stock exchange (MERJ) has issued off its digital initial public offering (IPO), that is poised to be the inaugural blockchain-based IPO in the world.

In its official twitter account, MERJ announced that its digital IPO was now live and that interested parties were free to visit the company’s website.

Prior to the announcement of the IPO, MERJ had entered into a partnership with US and UK companies to ease international sales. Interested US investors can access the shares using the broker-dealer Jumpstart as well as custodian Prime Trust while those in the UK can use Globacap which is a London-based blockchain startup that has been mandated to handle all the transactions in Europe.

According to a report by CoinDesk, the tokenized IPO sale values the 8 years old company at $25 million.

According to the company, 1,652,893 fresh shares will be issued where each share will sell at $2.42. The Seychelles national exchange is aiming to raise about $4 million to expand its services.

The company says that the tokenized security will be listed on MERJ and denominated using the US dollars. The new token is set to use the Ethereum public blockchain.

CEO of MERJ Exchange Edmond Tuochy explained further:

“These novel financial instruments are here to reshape the financial industry for years to come. MERJ provides the regulatory framework necessary for investors globally to access these markets in a safe and compliant manner.”

According to Tuochy, tokenization comes with various benefits key among them the provision of regulated infrastructure for interested investors in the world. As per the CEO, the exchange is looking forward to add various tokenized assets like real estate, music, art as well as various non-conventional assets that have the capacity to be securitized.

Tuochy also explained that the model adopted of direct access will allow investors to take part in various offerings while at the same time eliminating intrinsic friction. MERJ looks forward to having substantial democratizing effect on the world's capital markets.

MERJ was born out of close cooperation between the Seychelles government, IMF and World Bank in efforts to create a robust financial sector in the Island. MERJ is a member of World Federation of Exchanges.