Swarm launches world-first tradable stocks and bonds on DeFi

• World-first DeFi-compatible securities
• Fully regulatory compliant tokenized Apple, Tesla, and US Treasury Bonds
• New standard set for RWA tokenization

Swarm, the regulated blockchain platform, today announces the launch of a world-first public investment offering for Apple, Tesla, and two US Treasury Bond ETFs on decentralized finance (DeFi). 

The fully asset-backed tokens are available on the Polygon blockchain for both retail and institutional investors, with no minimum investment. Trading is available from Thursday 24/7 and compliant under German regulation on Swarm’s permissioned DeFi platform.

It is the first service of its kind for investors looking to access real world assets using digital blockchain technology, while meeting full regulatory requirements to provide complete confidence to users.

The tokens are 100% backed by real stocks and bond ETFs bought in traditional financial markets. Underlying assets are held by institutional custodians. Tokens can be redeemed for the value of the underlying asset at any time and monthly disclosures of assets in reserve will be made publicly available. Swarm is working towards a real-time asset verification model. 

The token offering initially includes Apple and Tesla stock, iShares US treasury bond 0-1 year ETF and iShares US treasury bond 1-3 year ETF. Swarm will add more stocks and real world assets in the future. 

Philipp Pieper, co-founder of Swarm, said: “To date, there has not been an elegant and regulatory compliant solution to trade real world assets on-chain. We are seeing a ‘flight to quality’, as the FTX and Celsius crisis demonstrated that on-chain collateral is too highly correlated, regulation is critical, and decentralization enhances transparency needed to build trust.

“Swarm is the first entity to offer tokenized T-bills and stocks via a regulated and decentralized platform. As a regulated institution, we can offer real world assets on the blockchain and mobilize them unlike anyone else. We have started with stocks and bonds, and plan to extend to any asset that needs to be traded within a regulated environment.” 

Trading is built on self custody of the users. Swarm does not take custody of the asset-backed tokens, which are controlled by battle-tested code. The four securities issued will be available to trade from today on Swarm’s permissioned DeFi platform and can be added to liquidity pools to generate yield or kept in investors' own Web3 wallets. 

Pieper adds: “Swarm sets the standard for tokenizing and trading real world assets on-chain. The announcement comes at a timely moment, as stablecoin issuers and treasury managers face increasing pressure from regulators to hold reserves in less risky assets. 

“Blockchain is an amazing technology with the potential to transform the way that assets are traded, allowing us to reimagine how financial markets are built. We believe that bringing real world assets on-chain is the first step to fulfilling our vision of integrating TradFi and DeFi, so everything becomes ‘Fi’.

The ISIN-based tokens benefit from the trust and stability of traditional markets plus the flexibility and greater access to global liquidity, at lower cost, on the blockchain. Stock and bond certificate tokens are integrated with traditional financial markets and can be redeemed for the underlying real world asset.

The tokens are issued by SwarmX GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swarm Markets GmbH, under a prospectus registered with the Financial Market Authority in Liechtenstein and passported into Germany. Secondary trading activities are regulated by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), and can be accessed on Swarm’s permissioned DeFi platform. 

All published prospectus and notifications for the certificate tokens can be found here (search SwarmX).