Iconic Holding, a global crypto asset management firm headquartered in Frankfurt, today announced the tokenization of its equity through a crypto asset-based Employee Stock Option Program (ESOP).
A portfolio company of both FinLab AG and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Iconic becomes one of the first companies in Germany, and in the world, to tokenize the rights of its GmbH shares through an ESOP program.
Through a unique technical and legal approach developed by the team at Cashlink, a fellow FinLab portfolio company, the liquidation rights of the holding company’s GmbH shares have become tokenized and tradable on the Ethereum blockchain.
Leveraging the tailor-made KYC/AML crypto wallet solution IVE.ONE of Agora Innovation, a HTGF portfolio company itself, the ESOP program remains compliant through implemented restrictions to qualified investors only. The program is designed to accommodate additional shares for future employees, as well as future fundraising rounds for interested investors.
“Iconic has been championing crypto asset adoption since inception. Every asset, financial or tangible, will inevitably be tokenized due to the benefits cryptographic technology represents. Leveraging the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Crypto assets will usher in a new era of financial inclusion, transparency, and liquidity. We are excited to offer tokenized equity rights of Iconic to current and future employees, and open the door for future fundraises through future tokenized equity offerings as we scale Iconic Lab, Iconic Funds and the AMaaS platform.”
Dr. Alex von Frankenberg, Managing Director at HTGF, said “Every Asset, in the long run, will be tokenized. Tokenizing shares of startups is a great start and we think this will be a big success.”
“We see huge potential in the tokenization of shares from startups and this instance of tokenizing ESOP shares shows the vast possibilities of cryptographic technology,’’ said Stefan Schütze, Member of the Board of FinLab.
In partnership with Cashlink and Agora Innovation, Iconic intends to help tokenize the remaining, interested portfolio companies of FinLab and HTGF, as well as other qualified companies, as the consortium continues to expedite crypto asset adoption.