Frankfurt’s FinTech Agora Innovation, with its iVE.ONE platform, has brought a stock corporation to the Blockchain for the first time in the European Economic Area. With the tokenization of registered shares of WeStyle AG, iVE.ONE reaches another important milestone for alternative financial instruments on the blockchain.

WeStyle Aesthetics AG, a workspace provider for entrepreneurs and companies in the beauty industry, is taking a completely new and digital path with the tokenization of the company. The entire implementation of the digital share issue was carried out by iVE.ONE. The market-leading regulated issuing and investment platform enables global trading of digitized securities on the blockchain within the legal framework. The legal advice for the issuance of registered shares was provided by Lutz Auffenberg, one of the leading lawyers in the field of digital securities. „The step of tokenized shares is the logical conclusion from the previous financial instruments that we brought to the market. From a business point of view, it is definitely a milestone, as it actually heralds the future market of digital securities. The draft bill for the introduction of digital securities from July also confirms this“, told us Phong Dao, CEO & Co-Founder of iVE.ONE.

“Shares have a long tradition in the capital market. The first shares were issued on paper and were held and managed by investors themselves. To make share trading more effective, the so-called dematerialization of securities followed: Paper shares were replaced by register entries at a central office”, Evgeny Matershev looks back.

A evolutionary step

The Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Agora Innovation has his sights firmly set on the future: “With the use of blockchain technology, we are now taking the next evolutionary step with iVE.ONE and creating digital shares that can be traded even more effectively and at the same time held by investors themselves or others. In addition, tokenized shares can be integrated into completely digital processes in this way, creating new application possibilities in the capital market.

“As a company, we rely on digital processes to make purchasing, acquisition and administration efficient and tailored to the needs of our customers,” says Dr. Till Kruse, CEO of WeStyle Aesthetics AG. The company reinterprets the successful model of co-working spaces and offers individually rentable and fully equipped workstations for entrepreneurs in the beauty industry. “With the issuance of digital shares via iVE.ONE, we can effectively and quickly achieve our corporate goals in the growth market Beauty Sharing Economy”, Dr. Krused explains the decision for the digital share issue.

“There are different legal requirements for an AG than for a GmbH, for example, there are annual general meetings where shareholders pass resolutions or investors have to be sent relevant information, which in future will also be possible digitally via our iVE.ONE platform,” explains Phong Dao. “With the tokenized registered shares, we are pioneering the recently published draft of electronic securities and the creation of a decentralized register,” Phong Dao continues.

“blockchain shares must be structured differently”

“Due to the German Stock Corporation Act, registered shares via the blockchain must be structured differently. Each share must be clearly assigned to the respective shareholder. We extend the existing Ethereum ERC-20 standard with voting functionality and link it to our regulatory infrastructure to comply with the legal framework. Our blockchain independence means that we can also rely on EOS in the event of a possible capital increase,” explains Evgeny Matershev.

“The blockchain as well as the automated regulatory infrastructure are at the core of our technology,” Phong Dao emphasizes. “After the financing by FinLab EOS VC at the beginning of the year, we have successfully developed our iVE.ONE product. Based on customer requirements, we now have a user-friendly interface that can be used without technical knowledge. Our full-featured platform offers functionalities to manage assets as a customer or to invest easily as an investor”.

About iVE.ONE

iVE.ONE combines the three pillars of digital securities: issuing, investment and regulation. With this solution, companies that were previously only active in private markets can now operate in the capital markets through tokenization and expand their investors’ portfolios within a regulated framework without technical experience. To create this framework, the platform combines various national regulatory requirements with the blockchain to protect companies from money laundering and sanction risks. iVE.ONE is funded by FinLab EOS VC, a cooperation between block.one and FinLab AG, as well as the High-Tech Gründerfonds.

About WeStyle Aesthetics AG

The WeStyle Aesthetics AG develops and operates as a workspace provider for entrepreneurs and companies from the beauty industry throughout Europe new innovative local salons (stores) in which hairdressers, make-up artists, stylists and beauticians can book modularly expandable workspaces on a monthly, daily or hourly basis according to their needs. WeStyle takes care of purchasing, acquisition and administration, so that the entrepreneurs can organize their work flexibly and independently. Combined with a digital platform, WeStyle enables independent beauty workers from small businesses to medium-sized companies to create their own life’s work.