SharesPost, a private capital provider for late stage companies, has secured regulatory approval to list and facilitate secondary trading of tokenized securities using its Alternative Trading System (ATS) on Tuesday.
The move will enable security token issuers and investors to participate in ICOs and trade digital securities in compliance with U.S. securities laws through SharesPost’s private marketplace.
The SEC approved SharesPost’s Alternative System Trading License (ATS) for security tokens last month the company said in a statement released today.
John Wu, CEO of Digital Securities Group at SharesPost, says:
“We are excited to have the green light from the SEC to grow this new arm of our service. We saw a need from our investors to expand their portfolios by having the opportunity to participate in Initial Coin Offerings and trade tokenized securities. The ATS approval allows SharesPost to be one of the first companies to operate in this capacity.”
The company says it is adapting its existing ATS and transaction capabilities in unregistered securities to the security token market. The platform will now provide investors with a digital private brokerage account, as well as investment research and transaction data on leading token issuers.
Greg Brogger, CEO and Founder of SharesPost, adds:
“The progression of secondary markets for equities from an entrenched financial product to innovative platforms is happening faster than investors and regulators have anticipated. SharesPost Financial, our broker-dealer, is one of the first broker-dealers the SEC has cleared for approval in this emerging space.”
To date, SharesPost has facilitated $4 bln in transactions for more than 200 technology companies.