Today, digital securities are a well-established asset class that offers an excellent investment opportunity. Unlike regular cryptocurrencies, digital securities are registered with regulatory bodies, and compliant with the SEC.
Only four years ago, digital securities were barely more than a concept. In early 2017, the world was focused on Bitcoin and the subsequent ICO bull run that finally brought digital assets out of the shadows. In April 2017, Blockchain Capital launched the first tokenized VC fund with its BCAP token, it was also the first ever security token that raised $10M USD with each token selling for $1.00. This was the first proof of concept for digital securities.
Shortly after, the SPiCE VC Fund I (SPICE) launched as the 4th security token. Today, we wanted to look into this fund and see what it is that makes it so special.
How Does SPiCE VC Fund I (SPICE) Work?
SPiCE VC Fund I is a tokenized fund that created one of the first digital securities in crypto history. The project provided exposure to the massive growth of the blockchain technology that was quite game-changing at the time, but it also provided exposure to tokenization, which was in its early days back then.
Of course, it also wanted to make institutions and wealthy investors involved, which is why it invested in new blockchain startups, hoping to encourage the development of the industry, and the launch of new similar companies.
SPiCE emerged as a digital securities ecosystem leader with numerous achievements and milestones. It was the second tokenized VC fund after Blockchain Capital’s innovative BCAP token.) It was one of the first digital securities issued on a globally-compliant digital security issuance platform, and one of the first three digital securities to trade on a regulated marketplace.
Finally, it was the first digital security fund to entitle holders to a direct share of net exits and the fourth-ever digital security.
What Problems Does SPiCE VC Fund I (SPICE) Solve?
SPiCE VC Fund I was a tokenized VC fund that chose to focus on investing in blockchain and tokenization companies who are building the ecosystem of a digital future. This includes investing in the actual digital securities space itself by investing in such companies as the tokenization platform Securitize. Here is how it did it:
Early mover to digital securities
The first thing to note about SPiCE is that it is an extremely early mover in the digital securities sector. In fact, it claims that SPiCE is the 4th security token ever to be launched. It was issued on a globally-compliant digital security issuance platform called Securitize. As such, SPiCE ended up being something of a trend starter.
A legally-compliant token
As registered security, SPiCE is compliant with regulations, only it comes in the new, digital form of digital securities. So, investors who are not afraid of innovation have found it a very refreshing new asset that is perfectly compliant, safe, and approved by financial watchdogs.
Pushing Capital into Digital Assets & Digital Securities
Finally, it is worth noting that SPiCE helped push investment and blockchain awareness among businesses and wealthy investors at that time. Some of the early stage investments by this tokenized VC fund included the following:
Bakkt – Aa digital assets security exchange company created by ICE, owners of the New York Stock Exchange.
Securitize – A tokenization platform with a mission to provide investors with access to invest in and trade alternative investment
INX – They operate a fully-regulated (US) cryptocurrency trading platform and an ATS for trading digital securities.
InvestaX – A leading Singapore investment platform for digital security investment offerings.
Benefits of SPiCE VC Fund I (SPICE)
Next, let’s take a look at the benefits of this project, which were mostly quite unique in the early days of digital securities.
Wide exposure to the massive growth of blockchain
SPiCE found that tokenization has a great potential to disrupt the financial industry, as the trend was on a rapid growth path to becoming a multi-trillion dollar industry. This is why it started providing investors with wide exposure to this massive growth of the tokenization ecosystem in the blockchain world.
The fully tokenized VC Fund
The project offered the first-ever fully tokenized VC Fund which was simple to invest in, and easy to manage that investment thanks to the digital token — SPICE. Essentially, digital securities harness all the best parts of the crypto industry with the security and regulatory approval of traditional finance, resulting in one very convenient asset for investments. While Blockchain Capital had earlier launched the BCAP token, that VC fund had only partially been tokenized.
Investment in pioneers of tokenization
A lot of entrepreneurs managed to benefit from SPiCE investments, as the project was aiming to support pioneers of tokenization, in its attempt to speed up the development of this sector. It supported a number of startups that have become major names in the industry since those early days. Some examples include Bakkt, Securitize, ROX, Lottery.com, InvestaX, and others.
Bottom Line
SPiCE VC Fund I is one of the projects that took a risk by launching digital security so early on, but since it turned out that it got the timing correctly, it was responsible for the growth of this sector of digital finance. Its example inspired others to enter the digital security scene, and it may have helped inspire institutions to try out crypto investments, as well. It is an important project that is very much worth looking into.
