Always wanted to own AirBnb or Uber shares? Well, a Southeast Asian crypto exchange plans to help you out with that.
According to Coindesk, crypto startups Zilliqa and MaiCoin have teamed up to build a token exchange that applies blockchain technology to traditional equity trading. The exchange, called Hq Exchange, claims to be the first “member-driven exchange” in Southeast Asia.
Based in Singapore, Hq aims to merge the old-school finance industry with the avant garde crypto space, and provide investors ingress to a wide array of startups:
“It is envisaged that Hg Exchange will provide access to high-growth startups and also decacorns [companies valued above $10 billion] such as Uber, Airbnb, Space X, Grab and Didi Chuxing, which are currently not within reach of the average investor.”
Blending privately-held equity with blockchain technology allows Hq to “liquefy previously illiquid assets,” says MaiCoin CEO Alex Liu. It allows “founders, employees and other shareholders to monetize their shares.” Zilliqa will reportedly handle the tokenization of private shares on the exchange.
As CoinDesk notes however, this wouldn’t be the first time someone tokenized existing shares:
“…there is already a precedent for tokenizing existing shares. DX.Exchange, for example, lists ethereum tokens that it says are backed 1-for-1 by publicly traded stock held by a third party, and Swarm has done this with private company equity (much to those companies’ chagrin).”
Photo: Official SpaceX Photos