Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has announced it is moving into security token offerings (STOs), with a first sale of tokenized stock to take place at the end of October.
- In a news release Friday, the company said its subsidiary SBI e-Sports Co., Ltd. will issue 1,000 shares of common stock, with SBI Holdings as the underwriter.
- The STO will be conducted on a blockchain platform called Ibet from Boostry â a Nomura Holdings-owned company that specializes in digital security infrastructure.
- SBI Holdings further said it may go on to launch a business managing public offerings of digital corporate bonds through SBI Securities, another subsidiary of the SBI Group.
- SBI Securities may also take on business related to holding STOs for assets such as real estate, fine arts and intellectual property, citing copyrights for games and movies as examples.
- This would allow investors to own smaller shares of such assets, the company said.
- SBI said it views use cases of blockchain technology such as STOs as "core technology" of fintech and that it's focusing on building business lines in the field.
- SBI Holdings recently agreed to acquire crypto exchange TaoTao, and is already a partner of U.S.-based blockchain payments tech company Ripple, having launched a joint venture to offer a cash transfer app called Money Tap.
- Earlier this year, the firm gave shareholders the option to receive the Ripple-linked XRP cryptocurrency as a benefit.
Also read: Japanese Crypto Exchange TaoTao Agrees to SBI Purchase After Binance Talks End
