Harbor Receives Broker-Dealer License from FINRA
As of September 27th 2019, Harbor Square Investments— a subsidiary of security token platform Harbor— is a licensed broker-dealer. The license was granted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a body which has taken its time in processing roughly 40 applications from firms in the digital asset space.
How Security Token Platform Harbor is Now a Licensed Broker-Dealer
FINRA has been slow to process approximately 40 applications for broker-dealer licenses.
Receiving a license will legally enable a firm to buy and sell regulated securities on behalf of others.
As the cryptocurrency industry is transitioning from the ICO to the regulatory compliant Security Token Offering (STO), a broker-dealer license is attractive— and perhaps necessary— for many. The transition is largely due to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), after Chairman Jay Clayton said any digital asset used to fund a project is considered a security.
Still, regulatory authorities such as FINRA have moved slowly and seemingly remained hesitant to grant a license.
According to Harbor CEO Josh Stein,
“It took the regulators a long time to get a handle on the space and understand it and its implications. This was very new for the SEC and FINRA, and they wanted to do it right.”
The move marks the end of FINRA’s silence, but it is still unknown as to how long the 40+ other applications will take to process.
Harbor now aims to become a one-stop-shop for security token issuers. They work with companies to both issue new tokenized assets and tokenize existing assets.
According to Stein,
“We’re going to provide the technology platform to manage the fundraising, the technology to manage investors, the technology to tokenize and enable liquidity.”
Recently, Harbor announced a deal with iCap Equity which involves the tokenization of four real estate funds worth $100 million.
What do you think of Harbor receiving a broker-dealer license from FINRA? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Image courtesy of Harbor.