Stockchain Global STOK: Cryptocurrency Asset Investing Exchange?

Stockchain, also known as Stockchain Global, aims to change the way we buy and sell financial assets like stocks. Here’s our review.

What is Stockchain Global STOK?

Stockchain, found online at StockchainGlobal.com, is a blockchain-based platform that aims to reduce the number of steps for buying a financial asset. It aims to make the stock buying process more efficient.

The goal is to reduce a multi-step process down to a single transaction. That transaction is built on the blockchain where it’s recorded, auditable, and immutable from the moment it takes place.

The ICO for STOK tokens is underway throughout January and February. The platform, however, is not publicly available online. The team is hoping to launch the platform in three jurisdictions before the end of the year.

What Problems Does Stockchain Seek to Solve?

Stockchain believes toady’s stock buying pross is filled with an unnecessary number of middlemen. Some of the identified intermediaries – all of which charge their own fee – include the buyer’s broker or platform, the buyer’s custodian, the exchange, the clearing house, the market maker, the central securities depository, the registrar, the seller’s custodian, and the seller’s broker. All of these intermediaries are standing between the seller and the buyer.

This process leads to massive fees and long settlement times (as long as 3 business days). The process is also filled with potential for fraud and human error.

How Does Stockchain Global Work?

Stockchain aims to solve the above problems by reducing all of the middlemen down to a single transaction. That transaction would have minimal fees and a nearly instant transaction time.

The transaction is built on an immutable blockchain. Users interact with the platform through a basic trading UI, which includes asset tracking, management, and trading.

On the platform, financial values can be displayed in fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies. You can view the entire value of your public stock portfolio in BTC or USD, for example.

Users can also manage their own financial instruments on the platform. They can create a new instrument token, for example, issue shares as tokens, publish information, hold a vote, issue dividends, or deem previously issued instruments.

Certain steps will need to be taken to purchase certain assets. For example, if you want to buy a promissory note on the platform, then you would need to pass through a firewall that enforces securities law compliance, because a promissory note is a private debt instrument that cannot be publicly sold.

Or, to purchase stocks in a company, two keys will need to be inputted: the user’s key to authorize the transfer of cryptocurrency to purchase the stock; and Acme’s key to authorize the transaction.

Stockchain hopes to launch its platform in at least three jurisdictions before the end of 2018. By the end of 2019, the company hopes to launch in 10 different jurisdictions, then achieve mass adoption by 2021.

It’s not totally clear how Stockchain plans to avoid the use of all intermediaries listed above. Certain intermediaries – like custodians – play a crucial role in the stock buying process. Someone also needs to actually purchase stocks from the clearinghouse or central securities depository. Stockchain somehow bypasses all of these intermediaries just through its “Stockchain platform”.

Who’s Behind Stockchain?

Stockchain is led by CEO Benjamin Beasley, a graduate of Harvard Law School based in the Salt Lake City area. Other key members of the team include Eric Vogeler (COO) and Jonathan Feinauer (CTO). The company was first formed in late 2016.

The Stockchain Global STOK Token Sale

Stockchain Global STOK tokens are on sale throughout January and February 2018. It began on January 19, 2018.

Of the total supply of tokens, 35% is set aside for future sales. 15% is set for the pre-sale, 15% for a pool, 30% for the company reserve, and 5% for the team reserve.

There will be no main sale for STOK tokens: there will only be a pre-sale. There’s a total supply of 1 billion STOK tokens.

Each STOK token grants a license to use the platform and its services. They can also be used as debt payments on the platform, voting of equity, notifications, dividend issuance, buybacks of equity, retiring of debt, access to the network for derivatives and service offerings, debt maintenance, and other purposes.

STOK Gold tokens are also available during bonus periods during the pre-ICO.

Stockchain Global STOK Conclusion

Stockchain Global STOK aims to revolutionize the world’s capital markets by reducing the intermediaries involved. Instead of having a clearinghouse, custodian, and other parties involved in the stock buying process, for example, Stockchain will reduce the process to a single blockchain-based transaction.

There are some unusual things about Stockchain: the company claims they’ve had enormous interest in their token sale, but there’s limited information available online outside of the company’s official communication channels. They also have large referral bonuses that encourage users to “evangelize” the token sale across the internet.

Furthermore, the platform doesn’t seem to be anywhere near ready for release: the team “hopes” to launch the platform in three jurisdictions before the end of the year, but there’s no public version available right now. How are you supposed to evangelize a platform before anyone has ever seen it? I’m not sure – but we’re always a little skeptical when a company has a “hyped” token sale before any real product is available online.

Overall, it’s always a good idea to see a working product before you invest in something. You can learn more about Stockchain’s ambitious goals today by visiting StockchainGlobal.com.