Key Takeaways
- Innovative bond issuance: Obligate’s blockchain platform successfully facilitated Polytrade’s bond issuance, highlighting the growing role of blockchain in capital markets.
- Solving Small Business Financing Challenges: This partnership is particularly important as it provides an alternative financing option to small and medium-sized businesses in the Asia Pacific region, where stringent regulations can make traditional bank lending difficult.
- Global tokenization developments: The collaboration between Obligate and Polytrade represents an advance in global tokenization, making it easier for real-world assets to be represented as tokens on blockchains.
polytradea global tokenized real-world asset marketplace, has taken a major step forward in innovative fundraising by issuing its first on-chain bond. make grateful, a leading on-chain capital markets platform. Funds were secured using electronic on-chain bonds known as eNotes on the Obligate platform, with all proceeds disbursed into Circle’s USDC stablecoin. This milestone follows Polytrade’s recent soft launch of a new Real World Assets (RWA) marketplace and signals the company’s commitment to expand its tokenization business.
Piyush Gupta, CEO, Polytrade “This eNote marks the beginning of a long-term relationship with Obligate. It also demonstrates our determination to continue growing our tokenization business while transitioning from a single-asset to a multi-asset RWA aggregator.”
Tobias Wohlfarth, founding director of Obligate; “As the selected partner for Polytrade’s first and future digital bond issuance, it marks our strategic entry into the Asian market,” he said, emphasizing the strategic importance of this partnership. “This alliance reaffirms our unwavering commitment to transforming on-chain capital markets without geographic limitations.”
The collaboration between Obligate and Polytrade also attracted attention. Colin Butler, Global Head of Institutional Capital, Polygon Labs; “As the tokenization landscape evolves, greater global market access and broader infrastructure provision will be critical to widespread adoption,” he said. Obligate and Polytrade are quickly addressing both of these core capabilities, and we’re excited to see Polygon fueling the growth of the tokenization space.”
Addressing SME financing challenges in APAC through innovative financing
One of the key drivers of this innovative financing approach is the unique challenges small and medium-sized enterprises face in securing traditional bank loans in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Banks in the region tend to be more conservative due to strict regulatory requirements, requiring small and medium-sized businesses to have multiple sources of financing. Platforms like Polytrade that offer alternative funding options are becoming increasingly important in bridging this gap. By enabling non-bank lenders to access new forms of capital through blockchain technology, Obligate plays a critical role in bridging this funding gap.
Milind Bansia, Head of Strategy at Polytrade, highlighted the importance of this partnership for RWA’s liquidity, saying: “Liquidity is one of the key bottlenecks for RWAs and this partnership with Obligate is a big step towards easing liquidity in the sector.”
Obligate’s role in developing blockchain-based capital markets goes beyond facilitating bond issuance. The platform’s recent invitation to join the Tokenized Asset Alliance alongside industry giants Circle and Coinbase highlights its commitment to shaping the future of tokenization. As a member of the Coalition, Obligate actively provides expertise on arbitration, regulation and tokenization and participates in research initiatives focused on tokenization law, DLT-based dispute resolution and arbitration frameworks, and the development of RWA regulations on a global scale.
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