Portal and HighCircleX to Tokenize Pre-IPO Equity on the Bitcoin Blockchain

Portal, a cross-chain Layer-2 DEX network built on Bitcoin, has joined hands with HighCircleX, a blockchain-based asset marketplace by High Circle Ventures, to help tokenize shares in pre-IPO companies on the Bitcoin blockchain.

This partnership is another milestone in Portal’s mission to bring real-world use cases to Bitcoin. HighCircleX is a platform for the new generation of private equity investments and trading without friction. The tokenization of equity in private, pre-IPO companies will help bring liquidity to illiquid assets. It will also increase the utility of the Bitcoin blockchain as Portal continues to build “many layers of applications” on top of it.

The companies whose ownership interest can be tokenized and traded include Klarna, SpaceX, Automation Anywhere, Epic Games, and Cross River Bank. These are some of the finest and most desired pre-IPO companies in the world.

Portal’s Executive Chairman Dr. Chandra Duggirala commented, “Portal is bringing real world use cases to Bitcoin. Eventually we will see tokenization of many more financial assets onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Although these assets are not bearer assets like Bitcoin, having both digital asset securities and non-security digital assets available through a simple interface for users who meet accreditation investor criteria marks the beginning of merging Bitcoin ecosystem with mainstream finance. This also fixes the problem of liquidity fragmentation across many different exchanges and applications”. 

Investing in private markets still has major limitations such as the unspecified time periods when money is locked up, a lack of liquidity, uncertainty about the true value of holdings, and more. With the help of Portal, HighCircleX will eliminate many of the current limitations by tokenizing the private holdings.

Hemanth Golla, the CEO of HighcircleX, said, “HCX makes it a breeze for investors to invest in private equity offerings. It gives members instant access to fractional ownership of stocks in the hottest companies. We believe that tokenization and fast, easy tradability that come with it will unlock and expand this market tremendously.”

HighCircleX (HCX) structures and manages an LLC for each investment. Investors don’t directly own shares of the underlying company. Instead, they own tokens that represent ownership of the LLC. The total funds from the LLC are used to buy a specific pre-IPO investment. These tokens can easily be traded on the HCX marketplace, enabling quick liquidity, fractional trading, and instant settlement. Thus, investors can cash out or trade tokens to access liquidity even before an investee company goes public or gets acquired.

With this partnership, in addition to trading non-security digital assets, accredited Portal users will get seamless access to tokenized securities, both from one wallet. It will also increase the available investor base for HighCircleX.

Portal’s Layer 2 and Layer 3 technology simplifies building censorship-resistant communications, media and one-click execution of cross-chain swaps on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. It facilitates the private, off-chain execution of “smart contracts” for asset issuance, swaps, staking, liquidity, derivatives, and more, all peer-to-peer, without third-party custody or control.

About Portal

Portal is DeFi built on Bitcoin. It makes trade unstoppable with anonymous, zero-knowledge swaps via the first true cross-chain DEX that’s trust-minimized. It eliminates minting wrapped coins (ie wBTC, wETH) or risky staking with intermediaries. With Portal, DeFi becomes a service that anyone can provide, maintaining anonymity within open, transparent markets with a security model as robust as Bitcoin mining. 

Portal’s Layer 2 and Layer 3 technology enables building censorship-resistant communications, media and one-click cross-chain swaps, all on Bitcoin.