Late last week, a leading trading services firm and Templum Inc. announced a strategic partnership that allows Templum to expand into the public markets and move toward developing a fully regulated exchange to list and trade digital securities. Subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval, the new public exchange would be SEC-registered and operated by the trading services firm.

On the international front, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission issued a policy statement summarizing the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to security token offerings (STOs). The new guidance offers companies that plan to market or sell STOs in Hong Kong a regulatory framework to evaluate whether security tokens qualify as "securities" under the guidance. The Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) also made news this week with its announcement that financial firms can now list digital or tokenized corporate and convertible bonds, asset-backed and derivative securities, and open-ended and closed-ended funds on its platform. According to reports, membership in the GSX is also now open to licensed financial services firms outside the European Economic Area.

In Bermuda, the Ministry of Finance reportedly approved Velocity Ledger Holdings Limited (VLHL) to conduct an initial coin offering (ICO). The ICO will fund operations for VLHL's two subsidiaries, VL Financial and Velocity Ledger Technology Limited (VL Tech). VL Financial operates as a digital asset exchange in Bermuda that supports asset-backed investment and real estate tokens, while VL Tech is a private blockchain-enabled platform that operates as Software-as-a-Service. The ICO is expected to commence this month.

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