By CCN: Bittrex now officially joins the IEO race with an announcement that it will be hosting the initial offering of something called Standard Tokenization Protocol, or STP. Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) are fundraising events similar to an ICO but they are administered by an exchange.
STP Looks to Tokenize Any Asset, Blockchain All Things
STP is the latest in a long line of products that seeks to revolutionize several industries by making it possible to “tokenize any asset.” And why not? An easily readable asset portfolio will look better to a bank than all kinds of random documents. If everything enters the blockchain, certain things will become more convenient.
Further, banks will compete harder than ever before to retain business. It will be a study in blockchain science to see what happens with the Marshall Islands, for example, with regard to the banking infrastructure.
People will see far less need for bank accounts. Banks, therefore, will need to work harder to attract business.
Indeed, banks may have only themselves to blame for whatever comes from a “more crypto” world for them. If people liked banks, crypto would not be so appealing.
Banks have numerous drawbacks. Many people like control of their money as a life goal, and once they achieve it, it’s hard to give up.
What Will Banks Do?
Why trust a bank when you have secure software dedicated to taking your funds with you?
The Standard Tokenization Protocol will enable people to take more than just their money with them.
If someone owns a few houses and beautiful cars and some jewelry – things they feel would benefit from insurance coverage – they can carry it with them the same as crypto.
This could work for things like gold bars. Ultimately, things like that will probably be stored in blockchain-enabled vaults.
The ownership can change hands numerous times, but the only person who can pick up the goods is the person who owns the key issued for the lock. That’s what can be traded. In the meantime, the third-party service can verify the contents of a locker.
So, for example, someone could carry five pounds of gold, broken down into ounces, with them. They could have them all stored in separate lockers and trade the keys for crypto, which they can use or trade for cash.
This is one way the future could change thanks to the blockchain. Even people who prefer gold over cryptocurrency might see real benefit in being able to trade things like gold online actively. The swaps could happen on a decentralized exchange as easily as a centralized one, too, since they would be non-fungible tokens.
Asset tokenization is one exciting application of blockchain technology but far from the only one. Things like blockchain voting, using blockchain to track land records, issuing licenses on the blockchain, using blockchain to track tax payments and take payments as well – this would work particularly well for marijuana growers who could buy crypto with cash and then use crypto to pay their tax bill. At least until the federal banking blockade steps off of them.
