Tezos Lands $1 Billion Security Token Deal with Major Brazilian Bank
Brazil's biggest investment bank is planning to use the Tezos blockchain for $1 billion in security token offerings. | Source: Shutterstock
Latin America’s largest investment bank, Brazil’s Banco BTG Pactual S.A., has announced plans to launch Security Token Offerings (STOs) on the Tezos blockchain. The news marks a major step for the Tezos Foundation.
$1 Billion Worth of Security Tokens to be Issued
Banco BTG Pactual will work in collaboration with Dubai’s Dalma Capital “to host a deal pipeline of $1bn for existing and future prospective token issuances”. They plan to utilize the Tezos blockchain for the issuances, which will include a range of tokenized traditional and alternative investments.
The news was announced by the Tezos Foundation on their website . The Tim Draper backed project is a self-amending blockchain and smart contract platform. It is a booming project, having risen in price substantially in the first half of 2019. And social media buzz doesn’t appear to be the reason.
The deal with BTG marks a welcome reward for a once-controversial ICO, marred by lawsuits among founders and faced a class action lawsuit filed in February. BTG Pactual was an early adopter of blockchain technology and security tokens, having launched a real estate based STO called ReiBZ on Ethereum.
Tezos a Threat to Ethereum
On the bank’s decision to use Tezos for its new slate of offerings, partner Andre Portilho explained:
“While the bank remains protocol and technology agnostic, and will continue to utilize the Ethereum protocol, we see Tezos as a global player with a robust blockchain for asset tokenization.”
Zachary Cefaratti, CEO of Dalma Capital, added:
“We see Tezos as one of the critical protocols for the burgeoning STO market, and look forward to securing future deal flow on the Tezos blockchain.”
Tezos’ self-updating blockchain makes it a stand-out technological project. It is also an advocate of on-chain governance, with stakeholders able to vote on amendments to the protocol. It uses Proof-of-Stake as its consensus mechanism.
Tim Draper was not so blockchain agnostic as BTG Pactual. The seasoned VC investor is bullish on the sophisticated platform’s future:
“We are excited to see BTG Pactual and Dalma Capital making use of the Tezos blockchain – we are believers in the Tezos project and see a strong use case for security tokens.”
The Security Token Market
If all investable financial assets are tokenized, according to Zachary Cefaratti, CEO of Dalma Capital, the market for securities tokens is a whopping $268 trillion. If derivatives are tokenized on blockchains, they represent $595 trillion in value .
For Tezos to have attracted the attention of financial services players that have been active in the blockchain space, the future appears to bode well for the once-troubled foundation.
