UK Blockchain Startup Raises $3.9M With Equity Tokens Via LSE’s Turquoise Test Platform

This article has been corrected to reflect that the money raised was in collaboration with the Turquoise platform in a test environment, and not on the LSE’s Turquoise platform itself.

United Kingdom-based blockchain startup 2030.io has raised $3.9 million in collaboration with a platform owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE), according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 15.

Known as Twenty Thirty or 20|30, the startup has reportedly secured 3 million British pounds (GBP) by selling tokenized shares and settling them in a test environment on LSE-owned equity trading platform Turquoise.

In July 2018, 20|30 became one of 29 firms that were approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to start testing within its fourth cohort of a regulatory sandbox. With FCA approval, 20|30 became authorized to issue equity tokens on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, with the firm announcing that LSE’s Turquoise will be the first platform to test the pilot settlement of its tokenized shares.

According to the recent report, the trial has been carried out successfully, using “real cash money.” Tomer Sofinzon, Twenty Thirty’s co-founder and chief risk officer, said that the company further plans to offer secondary transfers, and "work our way up the ‘capital stack’ to reinvent private equity and public markets.”

Recently, Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly officially allowed the issuance of tokenized securities on a blockchain, with the government planning to amend the Securities and Exchange Act with relevant laws in 2019.