Seychelles’s National Exchange MERJ Launches World’s First Tokenized IPO

The national stock exchange of the Republic of Seychelles, MERJ announced Tuesday, the first of its kind Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its tokenized shares, according to a press release shared with Coinfomania.

The development is brought in collaboration with the US custodian Prime Trust, US broker-dealer Jumpstart, and London based blockchain provider Globacap, which now grant global investors open access to the offering via the dedicated exchange’s portal.

MERJ noted it is offering a total of 1,652,893 new shares at $2.42 for a unit share, raising $4M of expansion capital. The announced IPO for its tokenized share values the exchange at $25M, per the press release.

The tokenized security runs on the Ethereum public blockchain, and at the same time, it is also listed on MERJ’s stock exchange and designated in United States dollars. The concept ensures investors are secured while gaining exposure to the rapidly growing digital asset industry in a familiar process.

The IPO marks a significant milestone for the emerging digital asset class, as it offers investors unique opportunities never before seen in financial markets. The CEO of MERJ Exchange, Edmond Tuohy, further stressed that “these novel financial instruments are here to reshape the financial industry for years to come.”

The idea that tokenization can also be applied to different financial instruments, including equities and bonds, real estate, fine art, provides easy access to complicated opportunities for ordinary investors across nations.

Previously, the barriers for tokenized assets has been the lack of a regulated infrastructure to trade these tokens. However, “MERJ provides the regulatory framework necessary for investors globally to access these markets in a safe and compliant manner,” the CEO said.

The exchange initially revealed plans for the tokenized shares on September 4, as Coinfomania cited Jonathan Self, CEO of Jumpstart Securities, who said:

MERJ brings the best practices of a regulated market place to this space which could mark the beginning of real mainstream participation.