Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Unveils Foremost ‘a-1’ Rated Security Token

Japan headquartered Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB) has rolled out its foremost asset pegged securities token in collaboration with Securitize on March 29. The asset is the foremost security token complying with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) to unveil in the Japanese Market.

The crypto token has obtained an “a-1 rating” from Japanese rating agency, Rating and Investment Information, Inc, indicating the asset is most probably to satisfy the near-term liabilities.

The token was developed by tokenizing physical beneficiary certificates that symbolizes investor ownership to the core asset. Additionally, SMTB has formed a trust firm to administer its core securitized investments.

SMTB unveiled the product utilizing Securitize security tokenization system. Securitize was set up in the US four years back, before setting up a Japanese unit that received investment from multinational corporations such as SBI, Sony and Softank.

In March last year, Securitize collaborated with Tokyo-headquartered LIFULL to develop a tokenized real estate investment system. In its media release, SMBT’s Hirohito Niji conveyed happiness in the bank adopting cryptocurrencies, saying:

“We are committed to proactively develop and deliver innovative solutions to our customers with their changing needs by combining cutting-edge digital technologies and our conventional trust bank expertise.”

SMBT, along with domestic telecom firms NTT and Softbank, is a member of the Japan Security Token Association. The company initially started studying blockchain in October 2016, when they collaborated with IBM to study the use of DLT to enhance the capability in asset administration, banking business and real estate.

Security token offerings (STOs), in recent times, have been receiving mainstream endorsement in Japan, with the nation’s Financial Services Agency licensing the country’s STO association in May 2021.