Former UBS Banker Launches Digital Securities Platform Tokenyz

A new startup launched by a veteran of global bank UBS is entering the increasingly crowded field of platforms for issuing digital securities on a blockchain.

Claude Waelchli left the Swiss bank, where he was head of portfolio advisory for global ultra-high net worth and institutional clients in July. During his 12 years at the bank, Waelchli explored the blockchain space and learned about digital assets in the process.

“I think it’s no secret that the banks do experiment with new technology a little bit,” Waelchli said. “There’s nothing really substantial that banks are doing at this point in time.”

Like its incumbent rival Securitize, Waelchli’s venture is named for a verb, albeit a deliberately misspelled one: Tokenyz. Others in similar lines of work include SharesPost and OpenFinance.

At launch, Tokenyz, will receive a finders fee from broker-dealers to which it refers clients and a technology fee for structuring transactions.

Over the last six months, the team developed the infrastructure needed to tokenize existing assets on the ethereum blockchain and a user experience for both accredited individual investors and institutional investors. Now, the team is building out standards for digital securities, specifically the ERC-1400 token.

“What we are currently looking into is creating a global alliance of the top experts in the space to provide an open forum for dialogue where you can have conversations and eventually work towards a common standard,” Waelchli said.

Ideally, tokenization makes transfer of ownership easier, increases liquidity in secondary markets, allows for smaller trades and speeds settlement times. Tokenyz admits that tokenization is still nascent with little adoption from institutional investors.

Tokenyz has 17 employees in total, including former chief technology officer and founder of Coinsecure Benson Samuel and former Capgemini consultant Harsh Patel.