KINGSTON, Jamaica and TORONTO, April 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is proud to announce the execution of an historic Master Agreement with Blockstation, a leading Canadian FinTech company, becoming one of the first stock exchanges in the world to sign an agreement to enable live trading of digital assets and security tokens in a regulated and secured environment.
Blockstation provides one of the first end-to-end digital asset trading platforms for the stock exchange network, offering compliant listing, trading, clearing and settlement of digital assets and security tokens to the entire ecosystem of broker-dealers, investors, depositories and regulators.
The JSE and Blockstation completed the Master Agreement following a successful live-trading pilot, which included participation from the JSE’s broker-dealer members and the Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD).
“Blockstation has been a good partner over the past year, working closely with us and our stakeholders to ensure that their platform satisfies every requirement,” said Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director of the JSE. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for the JSE to diversify its product offerings and attract new listings and inbound investments. We welcome retail investors and companies both locally and around the globe to trade digital assets under a safe, efficient and transparent regulatory framework.”
Named the world’s best-performing stock market in 2018 by Bloomberg, JSE stocks have surged nearly 300% in the last five years, more than four times the next best performing national benchmark and over five times the S&P 500’s advance.
The JSE plans to leverage the new agreement with Blockstation to:
- Support international Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by providing them with a streamlined and simple process for raising capital in a compliant and transparent manner through security token offerings (STOs).
- Demonstrate market leadership by showing the financial community that digital assets and cryptocurrencies can be traded safely through trusted broker members like any other security, in full compliance with regulations.
- Create an inclusive, regulated market that is more accessible to institutions, as well as non-accredited investors who would otherwise be excluded from lucrative opportunities in the digital asset space.
- Streamline the public disclosure process for SMEs, making it easier and more cost effective to list shares and other assets.
“We are incredibly excited to reach this milestone in our partnership with the JSE, bringing digital assets including cryptocurrency and security tokens to mainstream investors,” said Jai Waterman, Blockstation’s Co-Founder and Chief Enterprise Architect. “Digital assets are the future of capital markets, and our turn-key solution paves the way for traditional financial institutions to easily adopt this new, game-changing asset class. We look forward to being part of the evolution of finance going forward.”
A limited pilot to trade bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) through the JSE and participating broker-dealers will be launched soon. Retail investors can register and reserve their seat at: https://blockstation.com/pilot
About Jamaica Stock Exchange
The Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE) is an affiliate member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). The JSE offers a fully electronic, efficient, secure market with world class regulation, trading and clearing systems, and settlement of transactions. More information about the JSE and its subsidiary, the Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD) can be obtained from the JSE website; www.jamstockex.com
About Blockstation
Blockstation, a leading Canadian FinTech company founded in 2014, provides one of the first digital asset trading solutions for stock exchanges. It provides the end-to-end and compliant listing, trading, clearing and settlement of digital assets and security tokens for the entire ecosystem of broker-dealers, investors, issuers, depositories and regulators. Blockstation enables stock exchanges to quickly meet investor demand for digital assets and attract new listing and trading revenues. The solution fits existing IT infrastructure, trading processes, risk management and regulatory frameworks. www.blockstation.com
For more information:
| Linda Montgomery VP of Communications 1-833-326-2646 X 150 linda.montgomery@blockstation.com | Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest C.D., JP Managing Director, JSE (876) 967-3271 X2236 Marlene.street-forrest@jamstockex.com |