Recently, the blockchain capital markets platform iSTOX declared a $5 million investment from South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management. Currently working in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, iSTOX is supposed to go live in the following months.

Produced and run by ICHX Tech, Singapore-based ISTOX is creating a platform for the issuance, custody, and trading of digitized securities.

The firm is supported by the SGX (Singapore Exchange) and state-owned Temasek’s investment arm Heliconia Capital. In November 2019, the company’s secondary market went live, and it developed its first issuance of blockchain-based security.

Shortly after, the Singapore unit of Japan-based Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings funded $5 million in the company. Last year, the firm’s ‘Series A round’ also involved Thai investment bank Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group. With the grant from Hanwha, the company now has stockholders in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea.

“As iSTOX continues to grow, our relationships with partners like Hanwha are allowing us to build a powerful foundation to develop iSTOX into a pioneering service that addresses the evolving needs of 21st-century investors,” stated Danny Toe, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based ICHX Tech.

Japan’s Hanwha Asset Management is a part of Hanwha Life and is the biggest shareholder of Hanwha Investment & Securities. It had $80.20 billion in assets under administration at the end of 2018.

Meantime, iSTOX has built partnerships with law firm Allen & Overy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, SAC Capital, and RHT Capital. iSTOX earlier said it was looking for more associations in Asia.

The iSTOX platform leverages blockchain and smart contracts to streamline the issuance and trading of digital securities and combines investors and issuers immediately. This significantly decreases the time and expense of managing digital securities while contributing more investment options.

The digital asset space is growing, and many big names are examining the new investment class. Another startup, Securitize, has also drawn investment from big-name players, particularly Japan. Its sponsors include MUFG, Nomura, and SBI Holdings.

In Singapore, digital asset bank Sygnum was authorized by MAS to implement asset management services. The firm has alliances with Switzerland’s Swisscom and securities giant Deutsche Börse.

Swiss stock exchange owner ‘SIX’ launched a model of its SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). Last month, Sygnum and SIX funded in tokenization firm Daura in which Swisscom and Deutsche Börse also have stakes. Meantime, Boerse Stuttgart and Japan’s SBI Group are associating to build a blockchain-based digital asset ecosystem in Europe and Asia.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is developing a blockchain-based digital asset platform in Thailand, which is anticipated to go live this year.