STO Lab MENA launches in UAE as Security token market grows

The STO LAB (MENA) which will be in incorporated in Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) officially announced the launch as the first regional chapter of the STO Lab in October 2019. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the STO LAB, is a global business alliance for security token eco-system that aims to build a global network for sourcing high-quality STO projects and distributing unique STO deals through multi-country syndication model. The STO market has been growing rapidly with positive developments on regulatory aspect and strong participation of major traditional financial institutions around the world. 

According to Kokila Alagh, Co-founder of STO LAB, (MENA) and Founder of KARM Legal Consultants.  “MENA region has many great asset management companies that own and manage sizable assets around the world, and also with many financial institutions and family offices that actively invest globally. Abu Dhabi Global Market in UAE is a strategic location for establishing the presence of STO LAB to cover the MENA region,” 

“The evolution of security token is very exciting. It opens up the distribution of private investment opportunities to globally accredited investor networks. On the other hand, investors can now have access to many international, unique and exclusive deals that were previously inaccessible to many investors on the market,” said Samson (SAM) Lee, the Co-founder of THE STO LAB and CEO of Coinstreet Partners. The STO LAB also aims to streamline and facilitate a cohesive workflow along the currently highly fragmented value chain with various vertical solutions that focus on different segments. Together with its consortium members from the global network, they are deriving multi-country, fully compliant models and best practices in asset tokenization process.

STO Block, report states that USD 700 million has been raised by fifty-five STO projects up to end of Q3 2019. Many recent positive regulatory developments and increased participation of traditional financial institutions show that there is a strong upward trend. “While the market is at its early stage, STO will be a cost effective and efficient way for established institutions to bring additional liquidity to their asset portfolio through tokenizing process,” said Saeed Hareb Al Darmaki, Co-Founder of Alphabit Digital Currency Fund.

 The STO LAB focuses on more mature businesses and projects for STO, with strong underlying traditional asset classes such as equity, debt, cashflow and investment funds. Not only does it provide new liquidity to many traditional assets, it also creates a new pathway in capital market from “STO to IPO,” particularly for small and medium companies.

The launch of  STO LAB (MENA) marks the beginning of their global roll-out campaign. The phase-1 roll-out in STO LAB global network will include 8 countries, such as USA, UK, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland & MENA.