Security Tokens Reach Non-Accredited US Investors as Holding Periods for Some Assets Expire on OpenFinance Network

As of mid-May 2019, OpenFinance Network is set to allow non-accredited, US-based investors to access security tokens in Q2 2019. The required holding period for two tokenized securities will expire during the period, allowing for increased investor access for the first time in the United States.

How Non-Accredited Investors Can Access Security Tokens

OpenFinance Network was the first regulated platform for the secondary market trading of security tokens in the United States.

The platform is a registered Alternative Trading System (ATS), which is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a regulated ATS, OpenFinance Network is just one regulatory step below a national exchange such as NASDAQ or NYSE.

With the Security Token Offering (STO) supplanting the nearly dead Initial Coin Offering (ICO), many have wondered whether non-accredited investors will be eligible to participate in STOs.

OpenFinance Network has answered that question with an affirmative yes.

The trading of third-party security tokens has already been available to European investors. However, US-based investors are prohibited from such activity for the duration of minimum holding periods for new tokenized securities, per US regulators.

Yet in Q2 2019, the required holding periods for two tokenized securities will expire: Blockchain Capital’s BCAP and the first security token to ever undergo a compliant peer-to-peer transfer on a public blockchain, SPiCE VC.

In this sense, both BCAP and SPiCE VC will be available to accredited and non-accredited US-based investors via OpenFinance Network.

OpenFinance Network Opens the Gate for Non-Accredited Investors – Explained

The announcement was made by the platform’s CEO Juan Hernandez at Consensus 2019.

Hernandez said,

“Designed to act much like a traditional trading platform, Openfinance provides a broad set of third-party digital securities to investors – offering enhanced versatility and added liquidity to all of its users, which will soon include U.S. Investors along with our already active global users.”

Hernandez continued to describe how the move is a major step not just for OpenFinance Network, but for the tokenized securities industry as a whole.

“The ability for U.S. Investors to trade these digital assets and access liquidity marks a significant next step in the evolution of the digital securities market. We look forward to introducing additional trading opportunities in the near future as our platform expands.”

The CEO also explained how his firm has the vision of making tokenized securities available to numerous investor classes.

The traditional days of high-valued assets limited to a small group of investors with significant amounts of wealth and capital are coming to a close.

Hernandez explained,

“While alternative assets have traditionally been available to a small subset of eligible investors, Openfinance is democratizing the space and making these opportunities available to a broader universe.”

The future of finance has arrived, and it’s coming to the US in Q2 2019.

What do you think of security tokens reaching non-accredited investors in the US? How will this impact the nascent security token industry? We want to know what you think in the comments section below.

Image courtesy of OpenFinance Network.