Mash is partnering with DLA Piper, Trust and Tokeny to offer professional investors the means to participate in the current equity round using both crypto and fiat currency. Deloitte has been selected to provide AML and KYC services. The whitelisting process will begin in October with the round closing in December 2018. The STO is part of Mash’s broader EUR 50 million equity round.

Security tokens are not the same as utility tokens, as have been issued in a number of recent initial coin offerings (ICOs). The Mash security tokens are backed by assets and token holders would have voting rights and dividend rights of the company issuing the token.

“Security Tokens by definition are securities”, says Mash CEO James Hickson. “As such, they are subject to securities regulation and oversight. We are working closely with our partners to ensure we are fully compliant with security laws and regulations on a platform that can manage the process of issuance and management through the lifecycle of the asset. The STO is only open to professional investors, with each token having the same voting and dividend rights as one ordinary share of Mash. ”
Founded in 2007, Mash offers consumer credit, as well as “pay-later” solutions for retailers in store and online. The group is present in Finland, Sweden, Poland, Luxembourg and Spain.

"We continue to look for ways to innovate. When we considered how to approach our equity round, exploring the intersection of blockchain technology and the potential to tap into a new investor pool was interesting. ” says Hickson.

Martin Bartlam, partner and head of the Global FinTech Group at DLA Piper, said, "expanding a traditional securities offering to include security tokens is a novel approach to the fund raising process by opening up the offer to a different kind of sophisticated investor that is interested in developing a portfolio of digital assets."