tl;dr
Ironlight is a new company founded by traditional finance veterans aiming to create a digital marketplace for tokenized real-world assets. They have raised $12 million from individual investors and are seeking approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate as an alternati...
Ironlight is a new company founded by traditional finance veterans aiming to establish an SEC-supervised marketplace for tokenized real-world assets. They have raised $12 million from individual investors, mainly with a Wall Street background, and are seeking approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate as an alternative trading system (ATS).
The company plans to focus on tokenizing private securities such as real estate, natural resources, fine art, public infrastructure, and private equity. They aim to leverage distributed ledger technology to connect buyers and sellers and are in advanced stages of developing the trading venue. Ironlight also intends to partner with sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and traditional market makers to facilitate trading of tokenized assets. They are seeking regulatory approval and plan to operate under U.S. regulations to ensure compliance.
Ironlight, started by Rob McGrath and Matt Celebuski, aims to tokenize private securities, serving as a trading venue with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) blessing as an alternative trading system (ATS). McGrath and Celebuski are joined by Greg Braca, former president and CEO of TD Bank, as a strategic adviser and board member.
Ironlight's entrance comes as traditional capital markets and the digital asset industry are becoming increasingly intertwined, with crypto firms and traditional finance giants racing to put real-world assets onto blockchain infrastructure in the form of tokens. Proponents view this trend as a multitrillion-dollar opportunity and anticipate faster settlements, around-the-clock trading, and increased efficiency. The RWA market could grow to over $10 trillion by the end of the decade, according to reports by Boston Consulting Group and digital asset manager 21.co.
After raising $12 million from high-net-worth individual investors, Ironlight intends to leverage distributed ledger technology to connect buyers and sellers in a more seamless way. Their development behind the trading venue is at advanced stages, and they have already applied to be a regulated broker-dealer by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Subsequently, they will start the SEC registration process for an ATS, necessary to operate a digital marketplace.
"We felt that making this work under U.S. regulations would be important to be seen as completely regulatory compliant no matter which venue or regulation we would be under," Celebuski explained. A regulated ATS could make a positive impact on liquidity for tokenized assets, especially if it manages to attract sufficient subscribers, Doug Schwenk, CEO of Digital Asset Research, told CoinDesk in an email.
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