Taking the initiative to ensure a safe and regulated space for cryptocurrency trading, the Jamaican Stock exchange in collaboration with Blockstation, a Canadian fintech company is set to launch phase two of the pilot program for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading, on the JSE platform. The crypto-exchange platform will cater to ‘compliant listing, trading, end-to-end digital asset trading platform on JSE as well as, clearing and settlement of security tokens’ for broker-dealers and investors. A press release by Blockstation on March 3 stated,

“The JSE and Blockstation completed the Master Agreement following a successful live-trading pilot, which included participation from the JSE’s broker dealer members and the Jamaican Central Securities Depository (JCSD).”

Earlier in the month of January, the pilot phase was carried out jointly by JSE and Blockstation which lasted for 60 days. According to Marlene Street Forrest, the Managing Director of JSE, the primary objective of the trial was to ‘demonstrate the life-cycle of the digital asset ecosystem’ and since the pilot had been quite successful, the next phase included listing of the security tokens and helping investors to sign up for crypto trading.

Blockstation has been closely associated with the JSE for the past year with impressive crypto asset trading solutions, and Marlene Street Forrest believes, ‘this is an unprecedented opportunity for the JSE to diversify its product offerings and attract new listing and inbound investment’ from global and local investors, while ensuring ‘a safe, efficient and transparent regulatory framework.’

On the other hand, Blockstation’s Co-founder and Chief Enterprise Architect, Jai Waterman acknowledges the partnership with JSC as a ‘milestone’ for introducing virtual assets such as cryptocurrency and security tokens to mainstream traditional investors, saying ‘Digital assets are the future of capital markets and our turn-key solution paves the way for traditional financial institutions to easily adopt this new, game-changing assets’ and being a part of the futuristic ‘evolution of finance.’

The deal will also enable JSE to offer Security Token Offerings (STO) to interested entities by providing a regulatory framework to investors and institutions for any future operations.