MERJ Gets Green Light to Open Security Token Exchange in Seychelles

MERJ, a multi-national global financial exchange for equities, debt, and derivatives, has officially received clearance to start their own security token exchange. The approval came from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority. 

MERJ is currently the only licensed securities exchange in Seychelles. Going live in August 2013, the MERJ exchange now has some 24 listed securities on its three equities board. In total, the assets share a market capitalization of $259M. However, MERJ is set for another expansion. The exchange will soon be offering security tokens, one of the few platforms in the entire world to legally do so.

Most STO launchpads, despite purporting to be ‘legally compliant,’ have still operated under the radar in most countries. MERJ is setting a different tone by collecting a unique collection of licenses and regulatory approvals. In doing so, the exchange promises security for a still-growing space that is fraught with many risks.

MERJ to Tokenize Shares for Trading

Soon, digital assets and tokens will be traded on MERJ. The first steps will be to ‘tokenize’ ordinary shares of companies, such as MERJ’s own which is set to occur sometime in 2019.

MERJ is licensed by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA). The exchange is also authorized by the Central Bank of Seychelles to function as a clearing system operating and settlement system operator.

According to Dr. Steve Fanny, CEO of Seychelles FSA, MERJ has been working closely with them to gain legal clearance. “The FSA continues to follow new promising financial and regulatory technologies and encourages innovation in the securities market,” he told reporters.

Starting this month, MERJ has many more surprises planned to be rolled out. For example, a new client portal, digital access trading on the web, a desktop client, and mobile apps for both iOS and Andriod are expected.

Overall, MERJ is leading the way in pioneering a global financial market ecosystem. There are so few, if any, fully-fledged securities platforms open to the retail public where users can bost list these tokens and get secondary market liquidity. MERJ hopes to change this, and perhaps influence other governments to someday approve similar initiatives elsewhere. There is already progress made on this front in the European Union, Japan, and elsewhere.

Do you think MERJ’s efforts to tokenize stocks and trade them is the way forward? Will other countries follow Seychelles’ footsteps? Let us know your thoughts below.

Image Courtesy of MERJ.