Global Blockchain Technologies (GBT), a public company which provides access to a basket of direct and indirect holdings within the blockchain space has announced an update on its exchange-related activities.
These activities include interests in multiple cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as pending deals for the development of additional new exchanges. The company confirmed the other day it has set up a subsidiary called GBT Exchanges Corp. to house these exchange related interests.
At this time, Global Blockchain Technologies’ exchange division contains the following business activities:
- Hyperion Exchange– Offering what will an exchange for security tokens in North America, Hyperion is positioned to offer tokenized securities traded on the blockchain. While the world’s stock market has grown from $32 trillion in 2008 to $79 trillion today, these markets still rely on exchanges with features such as clearinghouses, whose functionality is mirrored by the blockchain both more efficiently, and at a lower cost. Hyperion’s launch is expected to occur at around the same time as that of tZERO, a decentralized security token exchange that has raised more than $250 million in its ICO.
- Laser Network– Acting as a SWIFT-like network for cryptocurrencies, Laser is a service layer that enables the blockchains of different cryptocurrencies to interact with each other without the use of a centralized exchange. As cryptocurrencies have grown, it is clear from the level of public interest as well as the hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization, that there is strong upward momentum for these digital assets.As this growth has occurred, it has become clear that some limitations exist for individual cryptocurrencies with respect to how much market share each currency can possibly acquire. Despite the fact that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin are each major players, no single one of them can become the world’s primary cryptocurrency. This does not have any negative implications for cryptocurrencies, as this same reality is shared with fiat currencies, of which there are 180. They do not compete with one another for market share, as they each serve their own purpose in their respective jurisdictions.These currencies can easily be transacted across borders and banking systems through systems such as SWIFT, making most currencies tradeable and fungible on a global scale. Laser will serve the same purpose for cryptocurrencies, enabling many different coins and tokens to coexist and grow together.
Laser will have its own cryptocurrency called the Photon, which will have a fixed supply of 42 million units, of which 30% (12.6 million) are owned by GBT. Further, GBT owns equity in Laser Technologies Corp., which will act both as a foundation for the Laser Network, and a consortium that operates service nodes, which are the computing infrastructure backbone of the network. The crowdsale for the Photon is expected to commence in the next few weeks, pending approvals from securities regulators. Further information about Laser can be found at laser.xyz.
- Singularity Exchange– Built on a combination of the Laser Network and the Stellar distributed ledger network, Singularity will act as a decentralized exchange for fiat currencies and digital assets. Fiat currencies can be traded as tokenized assets (for e.g. Dollars, Euros, etc., will be represented by assets on Stellar), enabling a much broader scope of digital asset trading.Singularity will have a federated sidechain that will connect the Laser network to the Stellar network, enabling assets on Laser to smoothly be traded on Stellar through Singularity. Singularity will also provide a custodianship and proxy issuance service for more than 30 fiat currencies and more than 200 digital currencies, built as a DAPP (decentralized application) on the Laser Network.
- State-Sponsored Exchanges– BLOC has made significant progress in its previously disclosed initiative to form an Exchange in partnership with a major state actor. Updates will be provided to shareholders as they occur.
“We are pleased to be part of BLOC’s exchange division, and with BLOC’s assistance we hope to build and propel the Hyperion exchange to compete with existing major stock exchanges and disrupt the world’s stock markets that have been largely under-exposed to innovation.”
“With these exchange projects on the go, we now have significantly increased movement in multiple areas of the cryptocurrency sector. With the scale of some of our current exchange projects, we hope to continue breaking ground in the blockchain industry during Q3 and Q4 of 2018.”
“The reliability of exchanges is somewhat of an invisible gap in the cryptocurrency world. Several exchanges are just garage or basement operations that handle millions upon millions of dollars in trading volume. BLOC’s focus on exchanges addresses this, and it enables investors to benefit from the growth of the professionally-managed exchanges that will prop up the cryptocurrency market and introduce major trading forces such as institutional capital.”
Investment & Private Placement Disclosure
BLOC has made a $5 million investment in Hyperion Crypto Exchange Inc., consisting of $2.5 million in cash and $2.5 million in BLOC common shares (8,333,333 Shares issued at a deemed value of $0.30 per share). Upon closing of the transaction, BLOC will hold 5,000,000 Shares of Hyperion, being 12.82% of their total issued and outstanding share capital. Pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement, BLOC will also be entitled to elect two nominees to the board of directors of Hyperion. BLOC will be helping to build and propel the Hyperion exchange to compete with existing major stock exchanges. Hyperion is also a major investor in DBOT trading, which is a licensed alternative trading system (ATS).
Global Blockchain Technologies also announced that it has closed a private placement and has issued 8,333,333 Shares at a subscription price of $0.30 per Share for gross proceeds to the Company of $2,500,000. No finders’ fees have been paid in connection with the private placement or the transaction with Hyperion. All securities issued will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period expiring on November 25, 2018.