Crypto Securities Are Years Away from Mainstream, Technologists Say

Despite a growing mainstream interest in the use of crypto assets and blockchains as a way to replicate and represent securities, some of the use case’s earliest innovators say sky-high expectations may not be in line with reality. For example, during a panel discussion at the ethereum conference ETHDenver this weekend, Tal Elyashiv – co-founder and managing partner of blockchain venture capital firm SPiCE VC, one of the first to release a crypto security under existing U.S. securities laws as a way to offer immediate liquidity for its venture fund – said the concept still remains very much “in its infancy.”Elyashiv remarked that when it comes to tokenized securities, the infrastructure in place to see it reach its full potential has not yet fully developed. “We’re going to start to see major pieces of the business infrastructure coming within the next few years … We’ll start to see institutional investors coming in this year,” said Elyashiv. Joined by COO of security token advisory firm Satis Group Shala Burroughs, director digital asset services of crowd equity platform Republic Frederick Allen and CPO of security tokens trading platform Open Finance Thomas McInerney, Elyashiv was not alone in asserting a more cautious projection. “When you talk about a security token, it’s a token representing a security. It’s not just a name. It means not just what the token is but how the whole process is managed … throughout its lifetime,” added Elyashiv.