Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has announced it is moving into security token offerings (STOs), with a first sale of tokenized stock to take place at the end of October.
In a news release Friday, the company said its subsidiary SBI e-Sports Co., Ltd. will issue 1,000 shares of common stock, with SBI Holdings as the underwriter.
The STO will be conducted on a blockchain platform called Ibet from Boostry – a Nomura Holdings-owned company that specializes in digital security infrastructure.
SBI Holdings further said it may go on to launch a business managing public offerings of digital corporate bonds through SBI Securities, another subsidiary of the SBI Group.
SBI Securities may also take on business related to holding STOs for assets such as real estate, fine arts and intellectual property, citing copyrights for games and movies as examples.
This would allow investors to own smaller shares of such assets, the company said.
SBI said it views use cases of blockchain technology such as STOs as "core technology" of fintech and that it's focusing on building business lines in the field.
SBI Holdings recently agreed to acquire crypto exchange TaoTao, and is already a partner of U.S.-based blockchain payments tech company Ripple, having launched a joint venture to offer a cash transfer app called Money Tap.
Earlier this year, the firm gave shareholders the option to receive the Ripple-linked XRP cryptocurrency as a benefit.