San Francisco-based startup, Securitize, which helps firms to tokenize their securities and assets, today announced that it has acquired Japanese Blockchain startup BUIDL. The two firms did not disclose the price of the acquisition.
Securitize said the takeover helps accelerate its expansion into the Japanese market. The announcement comes shortly after Securitize secured backing form Japan’s banks MUFG and Nomura Holdings, as well as telecom giant KDDI.
Founded in 2018, BUIDL is engaged primarily in blockchain consulting, demonstration experiments, and tool development. It currently supports several security token projects in Japan, and also sells an anti-money laundering and terrorism financing tool for cryptocurrency exchanges, called ‘SHIEDL.’
Using machine learning, BUIDL products help enforcement authorities and other parties analyze crypto transactions and expose anonymization techniques to calculate the risk score of a blockchain address.
We just announced at the Global Brain Alliance Forum in Tokyo that we are acquiring Japanese leading blockchain company @Buidlll founded by Global Brains CEO @YYurimoto and @JUN_Omise to accelerate our expansion in the Japanese market. pic.twitter.com/Rv6HsErrx5
— Carlos Domingo (@carlosdomingo) December 6, 2019
“By acquiring BUIDL, a proven security token leader and blockchain innovator in Japan, Securitize is immediately better positioned to help develop the institutional-grade security token industry in Japan, Asia and beyond,” said Securitize CEO and co-founder Carlos Domingo.
Domingo to take CEO role at both firms
Under the terms of the acquisition deal, BUIDL staff will get absorbed into Securitize, resulting in the formation of a unified team. Securitize CEO will take on the chief executive role at the newly-acquired entity, while BUIDL founder Jun Hasegawa will continue as a representative director.
The deal also comes as the crypto-focused compliance platform, which has now raised nearly $30 million in total funding, is open-sourcing its Digital Securities (DS) Protocol. The company has also launched a new ecosystem, dubbed ‘Securitize Ready Program,’ that helps partners like lawyers, broker-dealers, and advisory firms to integrate its crypto compliance solutions.
Securitize’s DS Protocol provides an automated compliance platform for security tokens and ensure the whole process, from onboarding to issuance and investor management, is done within regulatory guidelines.
As the topic of security Tokenization has generated buzz in the crypto community, Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo discussed the phenomenon at the Finance Magnates’ Barcelona Trading Conference.
