Symbiont sets out plans for its smart securities technology

Symbiont is planning to issue its first private equity shares as smart securities on the Bitcoin blockchain. Symbiont has stated that next month it was demonstrating its capabilities to financial institutions interested in programmable securities stored on the blockchain.

“We joined up to develop a generic platform that allows users to create, issue, manage, trade and clear and settle financial instruments using digital contracts on a blockchain. We are using the open source bitcoin blockchain at the moment, but the platform is blockchain agnostic so will be able to work with future blockchains,” said Symbiont co-founder and CEO Mark Smith.

One example of smart securities on a blockchain could be a corporate bond that is issued as a smart security with elements including a coupon amount and coupon date. When the security is issued, it communicates with the atomic clock and will make payments on the coupon deadline to owners across the blockchain. Friction in clearing and settlement is reduced – it could be T+10 minutes – and any errors and counterparty risks are eliminated.

Smith added, more than 50% of the top tier financial institutions on Wall Street already have teams tasked to understand smart security and blockchain technologies, identify uses cases and start pilot projects.

Symbiont is the result of a 2015 merger between 2013 start-up MathMoney, a specialist in cryptographic currencies and blockchains, and Counterparty, creator of the Counterwallet web wallet.