Debenture trading platform launches in Brazil using Horizon’s blockchain technology
First of its kind asset trading platform in Brazil and Latin America by Horizon’s client Piemonte Holding
By Vanessa Malone
We’re thrilled to announce that our client Piemonte Holding, the global financial group, has launched a fund and debenture trading platform using Horizon’s proprietary blockchain trading technology.
The trading venue is the first of its kind in Brazil and Latin America. It will enable Piemonte’s private investors to trade about R$150 million in debentures and investment fund units entirely on the Ethereum public blockchain.
Piemonte’s investors gain direct access to the secondary market from a userfriendly smartphone app made available for download on the Apple Store. A glimpse into the live marketplace can be found at https://piemontetrading.com/.
Piemonte has five instruments on the Ethereum blockchain with an issuance number of approximately US$30 million:
Debenture #1 : R$ 33,000,000, Ethereum address 0x88c42289910be3BEA95449627DFa83BbF3d80CEA.
Debenture #2 : R$ 66,000,000, Ethereum address 0x7dC89337C29e7B0E71D115B6c6D90c7d45AbE081.
Alba Fund #1: R$ 35,000,000, Ethereum address 0x763d2Ed06769155D72d8141AA431A4c1238c5F6e.
Alba Fund #2: R$ 10,000,000, Ethereum address 0x4307f0901e6c566a1E505e2b7de458ceD168Ca44.
Alba Fund #3: R$ 5,000,000, Ethereum address 0x2BBe86d2E610Ea01bc8FccE9De03ce922A23b798.
This launch follows another debenture market milestone Piemonte Holding accomplished using Horizon’s technology. In December 2019, Piemonte issued one of the first blockchain bond issuances in Latin America, closing its R$ 66 million(US$ 16.2 million) using Horizon’s compliance onboarding, issuance, and custody technology solutions.
While most other blockchain bond issuances have been on private blockchains or part of an internal pilot program, this was one of the first bond issuances on the Ethereum public blockchain.
The recent launch of Piemonte’s secondary trading platform for its qualified subscribers to buy and sell bonds, and offer liquidity potential prior to bond maturity, is another incredible milestone.
Unlike stocks, most bonds are not typically traded on exchanges in the secondary market. Instead, bonds trade over-the-counter which means investors who wish to buy and sell bonds in the secondary market have to turn to bond dealers or their own network to participate.
This over-the-counter method also means limited price transparency, market makers, and more time trying to track down someone willing to purchase a bond. And while some moves are being made to modernize the bond market with technology, Piemonte’s blockchain-based trading venue highlights what we believe to be a bright future for the bond market.
Horizon is proud to continue partnering with Piemonte to introduce transparent and cost effective blockchain technology solutions to the capital markets in Latin America. Piemonte hopes to open blockchain bonds to the general public via fractional bond ownership in the future after the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM) regulates and approves the blockchain technology.
“The shift towards digital securities is inevitable and has brought the benefits of greater financial inclusion, broader access, a new pool of investors and improved compliance and transparency processes. The efficiency, speed and resilience of the blockchain technology allows our new investment market to transfer funds quickly and without any information gaps. We are eager for the regulator’s opinion on this new technology so that everyone can enjoy it, not only the private investors of our group”, says Piemonte CEO Alessandro Lombardi.
This is the first live marketplace powered by Horizon’s blockchain trading technology and is a proven use case that unveils the potential our blockchain technology has in revolutionizing historically illiquid markets such as the bond market.
Horizon is actively working to unlock liquidity in other historically illiquid markets as well using blockchain technology. We’ve recently announced the launch of Upstream (expected Q2 2021) a revolutionary digital securities exchange and retail trading app which addresses the demand for liquidity in the $5-billion-dollar crowdfunding sector.¹
Upstream also supports digital securities offerings tied to fan-driven asset classes including athletes, sports teams, celebrities, and musicians that immediately become eligible to trade in real-time from the user-friendly trading app. Learn more at https://upstream.exchange.
Click here to read the full press release
About Horizon:
Horizon is a fintech company that builds and powers global securities exchanges with an integrated suite of software for compliant issuance, management, and secondary trading of securities. Our in-house solutions combine Wall Street and Silicon Valley to power the next generation of securities offerings and trading in the U.S. and globally. Learn more at https://www.horizonfintex.com/.
