But, is a new regulatory roadmap enough to transform the IPO landscape and fuel an STO (“Security Token Offering”) boom?
Not quite. But it’s a start.
While this is certainly reassuring for those who believe that digital finance embodies the global economy of the future, there is still a long, long way to go.
It remains to be seen how the market will respond to these modern public offerings.
Ultimately, like any public offering, success will be gauged by aftermarket performance. The two main factors that will determine aftermarket performance are 1) investor demand and 2) liquidity.
Hence, there needs to be a strong appetite for these token offerings coupled with reliable exchanges to support the trading of security tokens in the secondary market.
Here’s the rub: At the moment, such exchanges only exist outside the U.S.
According to news reports, Blockstack is presently in discussions with international exchanges for potential listings of Stacks (STX) tokens in October 2019 or later. However, even if these listing were to occur, U.S. individuals would not be able to trade on such initial international exchanges, leaving them with very limited liquidity options.
This represents a significant impediment to the success of not only Reg A+ token offerings, but to all U.S.-based token offerings in general.
There is hope that U.S. regulators will act sooner rather than later to grant approval to at least one token-based Alternative Trading System (ATS). Hours following its qualification of Blockstack’s token offering, the SEC granted similar approval to YouNow, Inc.’s token offering – indicating that the Commission may be becoming more comfortable with digital assets as well as more amenable to giving American retail investors an opportunity to participate in these modern asset classes.