Jamaica Stock Exchange Plans to List Security Tokens

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is planning to list security tokens as tradeable assets for clients.

The JSE’s Canadian technology partner Blockstation announced last week that the two firms have completed the first stage of a 60-day live cryptocurrency trading pilot.

Marlene Street Forrest, the JSE’s managing director said the trial has been “very smooth” so far and that the exchange is “quite happy” with the results.

She continued:

“We are looking forward to moving to the next stage of the pilot which would eventually include the listing of security tokens.”

The first stage of the pilot saw participation from regulated broker-dealers, market makers and the Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD).

The ultimate objective of the pilot is to “demonstrate the complete lifecycle of the digital asset ecosystem,” according to the announcement. That included setting up the platform, managing participants and conducting trading. The JCSD managed the clearing, settlement and custody of cash and cryptocurrencies, and oversaw compliance reporting and reconciliation across participants.

The JSE partnered with Blockstation back in August 2018 to create the new digital assets trading platform.

Forrest told CoinDesk at the time: “The end game at the end of the day is to trade tokens, the end game is smart contracts, the end game is to provide that area of the market that would like this product, to start to do so in a secure manner.”

An increasing number of platforms have been moving to offer trading in security tokens in recent weeks.

Just yesterday, crypto startups Zilliqa and MaiCoin partnered to build a centralized security token exchange called Hg Exchange in Singapore. The platform aims to ultimately tokenize shares of big-name private companies, including AirBnb, Uber and SpaceX.

Last week, European blockchain startup Currency.com launched a trading platform for tokenized securities, allowing investors to directly trade and invest in financial instruments using cryptocurrencies.

And, earlier this month, Estonia-based crypto startup DX.Exchange launched a trading platform allowing clients to purchase crypto tokens representing shares in different tech firms listed on Nasdaq.

Jamaica flag image via Shutterstock