How will Security Tokens fare in 2019?

But first, shoutouts to our investors of the week: Louis Lebbos, Faizan Khan, Antoine Tardif, & Rizwan Virk!

As security tokens continue their march towards tokenizing economies, Hackernoon presents to you its top stories on security tokens.

Hey, Utsav Jaiswal here, Hacker Noon’s new blockchain editor. Before we dive into these security tokens stories, we’d like to give a huge congratulations to our contributor & investor Riz Virk on the upcoming release of his book: The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are In a Video Game (available March 31). Riz has been a long time Hackernoon contributing writer, and we recommend pre-ordering his book today. You can read more about Riz in this week’s Vice story: How the Increasing Belief in Extraterrestrials Inspires Our Real World.

The Future of Security Tokens

Security tokens present a host of benefits to the largely illiquid markets such as Real Estate. Jurisdictions across the world are finally taking notice and taking their first steps towards a regulated decentralized tokenization of the multi-trillion dollar asset backed industry. The following articles are among the most authoritative takes on Security Tokenization and its outlook.

Hope you enjoy the reads as much as I did:

• Mt. Gox Five Years Later: What Have We Learned by Demetrios Skalkotos [3 min read]. As security tokens enter the mainstream, we cannot let the ghosts of Mt. Gox affect the much larger and much more lucrative asset backed securities. The article outlines the key requirements to beefing up our defenses against the kind of attacks that plagued the early days of bitcoin trading.
• Why Crypto Needs Institutions by Haseeb Qureshi [9 min read]. Security tokens will settle the centralization vs. decentralization debate once and for all. The article delves into the finer points of the need for Institutions and regulatory bodies to prevent the pandemonium from breaking out because, risk and uncertainty are the mortal enemies of commerce.
• Designing a Token Economy — How to Choose an Economic Goal by Alberto Cuesta Cañada [5 min read]. The arrival of security tokens also implies the entry of real economics and data driven development of token economies with adequate checks to satisfy the regulatory frameworks. The article outlines the prerequisites for the development of a well designed token economy and what its key objectives should be.
• How to Tokenize an Asset by Reza Jafery [7 min read]. A distinction needs to be made between a token economy and a tokenized asset and this article clinches it. Asset tokenization goes beyond simple conversion of securities into tokens but also provides multiple avenues for their fractionalization.
• E=MC² for Diamonds: Creating universal access to the diamond industry with open-sourced algorithms and self-sovereign identity by David J. Choi [13 min read]. A perfect example of the intersection of a centralized and decentralized economy. With a global and opaque supply chain carrying diamonds worth billions of dollars lending itself to tokenization, the commercial benefits are many and ripe for leveraging.
• About the Relationship Between Stablecoins and Security Tokens by Jesus Rodriguez [5 min read]. Touted as the champions of the crypto-movement to end crypto-winter, both stablecoins and security tokens have a lot of backers. This article dives deep into the synergies between the two and how best to fuse the best of both worlds into one.
• Unresolved Issues in Security Token Standards and Platforms by Il Kadyrov [3 min read]. While newer strides are being taken in the realm of security tokens daily, a lot of kinks still remains to be ironed out. The article discusses the key pain points that prevent a faster adoption of tokenization of securities and assets.
• A Comprehensive Guide To The Next Generation Of Crypto Funding | (V)ICO | IEO | DAICO | ETO | STO | by Ruben Merre [17 min read]. As ICOs as a vehicle see a downtrend, others are coming up to take its place. The article covers comprehensively the various vehicles for crypto-fundraising in 2019 and evaluates their suitability, pros, and cons.
• STO Market Outlook 2019 by Tatiana Koffman [5 min read]. If 2017 was the year of the utility token, with ICOs raising more than $5.6B, 2018 will be remembered as having paved the way for a new generation of security tokens. After conducting an independent study of 130+ STOs currently on the market, the article presents the key trends forming for 2019.
• Four Healthy Frictions Will Guide the Future of Security Tokens by Jesus Rodriguez [6 min read]. Historically, the frictions created in nascent technology markets have taught us some important lessons that might be applicable to security tokens. The article details the 4 major friction points that exist in the security token market today but are expected to get ironed out eventually.

It is pretty evident that security tokens could lead to more inclusive economies. Thus, it is of utmost importance for the regulators, developers, businesses, and other stakeholders to map out the edge cases comprehensively and take the narrative ahead towards greater adoption.

We, at Hackernoon, are excited help provide a medium of discussion for those involved in the development of security tokens. You can become a part of the discussion by checking out our contributors’ stories on security tokens or, become a contributor yourself and create a new discussion by submitting a story.

Follow our new twitter account, @hackerhodl, for more blockchain stories.

P.S. Shoutout to our investors of the week! Cheers to those who make it possible for us to build a better tech site:

• Louis Lebbos is a Founding Partner at AstroLabs a digital & tech academy offering co-working spaces for scale-ups expanding to the MENA region,
• Faizan Khan is an open-source enthusiast, early buyer of programmable money, and Managing Director at Visary Capital
• An internet entrepreneur focusing on blockchain, Antoine Tardif is the CEO and co-Founder of BlockVentures and Securities.io
• Rizwan Virk is an entrepreneur, investor, founder of Play Labs @ MIT and bestselling author, including of the upcoming The Simulation Hypothesis. You can pre-order today :-)