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The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled the 29 companies composing the fourth cohort of its regulatory sandbox. More than 40% of them will be testing blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions, the financial regulator said on Tuesday.
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Six are using DLT to automate the issuance of debt or equity, and two are using DLT to support the provision of insurance.
“We have accepted a small number of firms that will be testing propositions relating to crypto assets. We are keen to explore whether, in a controlled environment, consumer benefits can be delivered while effectively managing the associated risks,” the FCA said.
Blockchain startups and solutions that made it into the UK FCA’s fourth cohort include BlockEx, a platform that facilitates the issuance and manages the lifecycle of regulated bonds using DLT, Capexmove, a DLT-based solution for issuing tokenized debt, Etherisc, a service that uses smart contracts on a blockchain platform to provide fully automated, decentralized flight delay insurance, and 20|30, a DLT-based platform that allows companies to raise capital.
20|30 will be testing its platform, which enables the primary issuance of equity tokens using the Ethereum blockchain. The test will be conducted using UK blockchain startup Nivaura[1]’s integration with the London Stock Exchange Group’s Turquoise platform.
“We are delighted to be included in the latest cohort of the FCA’s regulatory sandbox,” said David Siegel, founder of 20|30. “This is a significant milestone for the 20|30 team. For the first time, our integration with the Turquoise platform will demonstrate a regulatory-compliant way for institutional investors to purchase equity tokens. We believe this is an important first step to building a new digital foundation for capital markets.”
The 20|30 platform aims to be the regulated entity
