Today blockchain startup Securitize announced the issuance of its first European Union security token for equity in the Spanish real estate investment trust (REIT) Mancipi Partners. Securitize is currently operating within the sandbox of the Spanish securities regulator CNMV, with plans to start trading the digital securities in September.
The token is minted on the Avalanche public blockchain where the Foundation earlier this week said it would invest $50 million in tokenized issuances.
The Mancipi Partners REIT was incorporated this year and aims to raise €150 million to invest in property in the health sector.
Securitize says the issuance is part of the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime. However, it first has to emerge from the sandbox and receive a full license that enables passporting to operate throughout the EU.
The DLT Pilot Regime temporarily relaxes some legal restrictions. For example, it allows consumers to buy securities direct rather than via a broker. And it waves laws that usually require exchanges to operate separately from settlement infrastructures.
Meanwhile, Securitize has raised more than $100 million in venture backing and been involved in high profile issuances including tokenizing part of a KKR Fund and a fund for Hamilton Lane. In the United States, it operates a secondary market ATS and has a broker dealer license. Several major Japanese firms are investors in the startup as well as strategic partners.
“Securitize is now the first firm to be able to issue and trade tokenized securities in both the U.S. and Europe, and is the first firm to do so under the EU’s new pilot regime for digital assets,” said Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo. “European businesses will be a major beneficiary of this innovation, giving businesses a new way to raise capital through primary capital raises, and obtain potential tax benefits and liquidity through secondary trading.”
