- What's Drippin'
- Posts
- 🧊 ICE ICE baby
🧊 ICE ICE baby
The Intercontinental Exchange has invested in and taken a leadership role at tZERO!
Welcome to the 69 new Rainmakers who have joined us since last week. Join the 2,342 others who are laughing, learning, and staying at the forefront of tech every week!
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Trucpal!
Trucpal is an underlying platform that introduces security-based tokens into the platform economy to serve the Chinese freight industry.
Gooood morning, Rainmakers! ☀️
As always, I have two captivating topics for you to dive into:
1️⃣ 🧊 ICE ICE baby: One of the most respected traditional finance incumbents is taking a big step forward towards security tokens!
2️⃣ 🤮 Fractionalized NFTs: Fractionalized NFTs are just security tokens in disguise for the common folk to understand... and it has to stop!
Without further ado, it's time to…
Get liquid 💧
🧊 ICE ICE baby
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) just added some major drip to its portfolio.
For those of you who aren't familiar, ICE is the parent company of the NYSE, as well as a leading operator of global exchanges, clearinghouses, and much more.
They currently have $190B worth of assets and just acquired a minority stake in leading security token marketplace tZERO, so this is a pretty big deal!
Let me repeat that because I don't think you heard it the first time...
The parent company of the NYSE (the largest stock exchange on the planet), now owns a minority stake in tZERO!
ICE executive, David Goone, will be transitioning to become the new CEO of tZERO!
David Goone may not be the most well-versed on the surface with security tokens, but he sure knows a thing or two about finance.
Prior to joining tZERO - Goone was active on industry boards including the Options Clearing Corporation, National Futures Association, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, as well as had extensive experience at CME Group and other credible financial institutions.
If we can take one thing away from that it's that tZERO will soon be run by David Goone and the Goonies!
Just kidding...
Fun fact: my cousin is 'Mouth' (the kid with the knife pointed at him) from the Goonies, so basically I'm related to tZERO, right??
"Okay, enough of your crazy talk Jonah - what does this all mean?"
It means the incumbents are going all-in on security tokens.
The ICE knows that tokenization of all assets is inevitable and they want to position themselves to directly profit from it via this strategic investment.
With their minority interest in tZERO - they will also obtain exposure to BSTX, which will be the first nationally recognized exchange to be fully blockchain-powered!
The BSTX should be launching sometime in the latter half of the year and will aim to take the industry by storm.
As the year rages on, 2022 is positioned to be the 'year of security tokens' even more now.
🤮 Fractionalized NFTs
Okay, who in the right mind has started this trend of calling security tokens fractionalized NFTs?
A non-fungible token or NFT for short is something that is one-of-one.
So, how the heck can you offer shares in something that is innately unique?!
Yeah… um… I am not exactly sure how the heck this is even possible.
Firstly, in general, shares in any security are fungible and NFTs are non-fungible.
Let's get basic on fungible and non-fungible:
Fungibility is the ability to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.
For example, all shares of Apple are identical, which allows thousands if not millions of people to own and trade the same asset.
Non-fungibility is a unique and non-interchangeable unit.
For example, collectibles like baseball cards, paintings, and even homes… or in today's world, NFTs like Cryptopunks or Bored Apes.
We have now seen multiple use-cases of these 'fractionalized' NFTs at work.
A few months ago, a prominent crowdfunding platform, Republic, came out with the S-NFT (Security-NFT) framework, which is maybe a little bit better lol.
The two initial offerings were the singles: "Mona Lisa" Lil Pump ft. Soulja Boy and a KSHMR song.
Additionally, you can purchase fractional shares in top NFTs like Cryptopunks and Bored Apes through a platform called Rally Road.
As long as these projects are being compliant, I have no issues with offering shares in an NFT - as the majority of people don't have enough capital to purchase a Bored Ape or a Cryptopunk.
The core issue I have is that the language is confusing and somewhat incorrect.
Regardless of what we call them, in the end, the market decides the name of these blockchain-based securities and if fractionalized NFTs are what gets us mainstream, I suppose it's okay.
Time will tell - either way, I'm grateful more and more projects are going this route!
💦 What else is Drippin’
Here's your chance to ask a Security Token Advisor anything about tokens: Register here!
The Tokenization of The World Starts Now: A great article published by the financial incumbent, Nasdaq, believes in tokenization.
Stock Exchange of Thailand to Launch Digital Asset Exchange Very Soon: Thailand is going all-in on security tokens!
Thanks for tuning in! Keep an eye out each Monday for the next security token adventure 🧗♀️
Disclosures:
• No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, will not be accepted;
• No offer to buy the securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the offering statement is filed and only through the platform of an intermediary (funding portal or broker-dealer); and
• A person’s indication of interest includes no obligation or commitment of any