Credit Agricole's Asset Servicing Unit Backs Tokenized SME Exchange in Europe

CACEIS, the asset servicing arm of Credit Agricole, has acquired a minority stake in French fintech Kriptown to support the launch of Lise, a blockchain-based exchange aimed at SMEs and mid-cap companies.

Lise, short for Lightning Stock Exchange, is set to be Europe’s first tokenized exchange focused on streamlining equity financing and public listings for smaller firms, CACEIS said in a press release on Monday.

Lise is currently awaiting regulatory approval as a DLT Trading and Settlement System (DLT TSS) under the European pilot regime. If approved, it would allow companies to issue, trade, and settle financial instruments directly on a distributed ledger, cutting down the time and costs associated with traditional IPO processes.

Lise would allow investors to trade shares on a secondary market that operates around the clock, without the bottlenecks of standard clearing houses, or lengthy coordination of multiple intermediaries.

The move aligns with CACEIS’s broader push into digital assets, which saw it receive MiCA approval earlier this year.

Founded in 2018, Kriptown develops infrastructure for tokenizing financial instruments, integrating both market and post-trade operations. Lise’s first IPO is planned for 2025, contingent on receiving the necessary approvals.