Eastern European nation Belarus has launched a new platform that lets users purchase tokenized versions of traditional financial assets such as gold and stocks. The project was launched by IT companies VP Capital and Larnabel Ventures.
Users will be able to buy shares, gold, precious metals, foreign exchange, and more, in addition to cryptocurrencies. Belarus claims this is the world’s first regulated tokenized securities exchange.
Transactions made on the platform will be made free from 2023. The nation is working hard to attract foreign investors and boost the economy, and its efforts in the IT industry may not go unrewarded. The tax exemption, and cryptocurrency-related laws, could very well attract a lot of funds — 2,000 registrants had signed up within the first 2 hours.
Currently, there are 150 types of tokens on the platform, including shares in Apple, and oil. Officials expect to increase this figure to 10,000.
Speaking to Reuters, VP Capital’s owner Viktor Prokopenya said,
This is the first platform in the world where cryptoinvestors will be able to diversify their investments into real assets.
Prokopenya also believes that this venture could boost Belarus’ economy,
We believe that this project will allow Belarusian companies to attract additional funding both domestically and externally,” he added. “Because at the moment the stock market of Belarus is far from the state in which it should be.
Tokenization of Assets Becoming a Reality
Asset tokenization is an emerging trend that startups are focusing on intensely. The act of breaking a traditionally expensive and difficult-to-manage asset, like real estate, gold and art, into fractional amounts that multiple users can hold can makes this type of investment accessible to masses.
Swarm, a platform where token issuers can launch securities, is one example of such an effort. The platform has already seen the launch of TheArtToken, which allows users to be fractions of what is historically a very stable asset class.
Similarly, several other platforms are focusing on gold, like Digix, and real estate, of which there are many.
