MERJ (https://merj.exchange/), the national stock exchange of the Republic of Seychelles, has announced the initial public offering (IPO) of its tokenized shares, becoming the first entity in history to do so. The offering values the 8-year old exchange at $25M.
The offering is open to investors from across the globe through the exchange’s own portal, as well as through collaborations with U.S. broker-dealer Jumpstart, U.S. custodian Prime Trust and London based blockchain provider Globacap. MERJ is issuing 1,652,893 new shares at a price of $2.42 per share, raising $4M of expansion capital. The exchange’s tokenized security uses the ethereum public blockchain whilst also being listed on MERJ’s stock exchange and denominated in U.S. dollars, providing investors a secure and familiar way to gain exposure to the growing digital asset industry.
The move comes a month after MERJ beat global competitors to become the first fully regulated stock exchange to list tokenized securities worldwide, bridging traditional financial markets with distributed ledger technology (DLT). The public offering marks a significant milestone for the emerging digital asset class.
Tokenization, the process of converting a unit of asset ownership into a digital token on a blockchain, presents investors with unique opportunities never before seen in financial markets. One of the main barriers to tokenization has been the lack of a regulated infrastructure on which tokenized assets could be traded. MERJ provides that infrastructure to investors globally.
MERJ is pioneering a direct-access model that enables investors to access the exchange directly via web or mobile app, as well as institutional customers through more traditional broker and member channels. By combining this model with the far-reaching effects of distributed ledger technology, MERJ hopes to have a democratizing effect on global capital markets.
