A recent report by CoinDesk sheds light on rising interest in blockchain applications in the capital markets spurred by private conferences and high-profile investments from leading Wall Street firms in 2015.



Drawing attention to the newest entrant, Symbiont, the report said that it launched its first blockchain-based private security earlier this month, converting its founders' shares, convertible preferred shares and convertible note terms to function on the blockchain.



Speaking to CoinDesk, Symbiont CEO Mark Smith opened up on the firm and its market strategy, suggesting that the private equities market will be its main focus. The FX trading veteran and founder of early E*Trade alternative MatchBookFX called a robust private securities market "the only future" given that many startups are avoiding public offerings.



"You look at companies like Uber in Series K or Series N rounds, the allure of going public isn't what it used to be", he said.



Putting shares in private companies on the blockchain, according to Smith, provides a perfect proof of concept for the technology's capital markets applications.



"What can be done then is transfers to other securities. Because we did straight equity and debt, we demonstrated you can do a bond on the bitcoin blockchain and then you can do it on a permissioned ledger system," Smith continued.



Beyond private equities, Smith sees opportunities in the corporate bond market and the syndicated loans market.



When asked about the firm's regulatory strategy, Smith was quick to state that he believes Symbiont to be a "pure technology company", one that will seek to work with existing financial solutions to develop blockchain solutions.



"We don't want to disintermediate financial institutions, but allow them to deliver products and services better. We want to be trusted and transparent to enter into new markets to shift models away from models where there is high risk," Smith continued.



Symbiont has not applied for a BitLicense in New York, but suggested it is in talks with FINRA and the SEC to ensure its compliance, the report added.



"We don't touch fiat or crypto, we don't money transfer," Smith said. "Our customer is responsible for KYC and AML that they sponsor onto our permissioned network. We're never a counterparty for a trade, we never custody a currency fiat or crypto."



As for the competition, Smith indicated that he sees this as a sign the firms involved are innovating in the right direction and added, "I'd hate to be the only person working on something."