Securitize, the U.S.-based leader in real-world asset tokenization, has begun the issuance of tokenized securities in Europe.

The news follows the June 2022 announcement that Securitize had been accepted into the test environment (or “sandbox”) for digital asset securities led by the Spanish General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Finance (CNMV). Within this sandbox, CNMV will monitor Securitize as it issues and, later this fall, facilitates the trading and settlement of tokenized shares, consistent with the European Union’s Distributed Ledger Technology Pilot Regime (learn more).

“Investing in private market alternative assets can be one of the most powerful ways to generate wealth, but these opportunities have historically been inaccessible to most people. Securitize is now the first firm to be able to issue and trade tokenized securities in both the U.S. and Europe, and is the first firm to do so under the EU’s new pilot regime for digital assets,” said Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo, himself a native Spaniard. “European businesses will be a major beneficiary of this innovation, giving businesses a new way to raise capital through primary capital raises, and obtain potential tax benefits and liquidity through secondary trading.”

Securitize has begun issuing digital asset security tokens representing equity in Mancipi S.A., a Spanish real estate investment trust (REIT) investing in commercial real estate in the Spanish health sector, principally through the use of innovative location and geospatial data to identify, acquire and develop investment opportunities. Mancipi’s goal is to raise $150 million euros and its registered advisor for this capital raise is ILP Lawyers.

Shares will be issued and tokenized on the Avalanche public blockchain, and secondary trading of tokenized shares is anticipated to begin in September. This is the first natively tokenized issuance of equity under the EU Pilot Regime in Europe and has been possible thanks to the active support of the Spanish regulator, CNMV. Once Securitize has performed share issuance, trading and settlement services consistent with CNMV’s requirements, it anticipates receiving securities licenses in both Spain and throughout the European Union, and expects to be the first firm to be able to do so in both the U.S. and EU.

The ability for European companies to issue shares in tokenized form is an important step in expanding business’ ability to raise capital and individual investor access to the wealth generated in the private capital markets. Additional benefits include enabling businesses to diversify their shareholder base, providing transparency to share ownership and trading, improving potential liquidity, increasing the speed and security of transactions (including across borders), improving REITs’ access to capital, reducing intermediaries and barriers to investing, and can have tax benefits for both firms raising capital and for investors.

“We are very proud to be the first REIT that is going to operate in this new market promoted by Securitize, as it will offer great advantages to investors in terms of new investment systems equipped with security, transparency and agility, in addition to offering us the possibility of attracting new investors in the European market and the United States,” said Ángel G. Maroto, Mancipi S.A.’s CEO and manager of the real estate assets.

“After dedicating a large part of my professional career to the real estate business, I have always been attracted by new technologies and applying blockchain technology to the capital markets seems like a unique opportunity,” added Fernando Segarra, founding partner of Mancipi, S.A.

While Securitize’s approval to issue tokenized securities in Spain is new, the firm already has a significant presence in the country: much of its technology team is Spanish and Banco Santander was an early investor in the firm. Securitize also recently announced an expansion into Asia.

Source: Securitize