The Security Token Academy is holding an event in New York City during the first weekend of October to officially ‘launch’ the security token industry. Speakers will include some of the most influential leaders in the industry to include David Weild, the former Vice Chairman of Nasdaq, and Fabian Vogelsteller, the creator of the ERC-20 token standard.

The Start of the Security Token Industry

Many consider security tokens to be the future of blockchain technology. Polymath’s Graeme Moore has predicted the evolution of a $10 trillion-dollar industry in five years. Others have referred to STOs as the investment tool of the future.

The Security Token Academy says such a future is now.

“Given that many security token trading organizations will be starting operations in 2018 or 2019, the Security Token Academy has declared October 2018 as the official launch of this exciting and emerging industry in the United States.”

The event is scheduled to involve a cruise along the Hudson River, and a conference at the Conrad NYC. The cruise is intended to provide networking opportunities, while the conference will focus on the ‘Core Foundations of the Security Token Industry’.

On Friday, October 5th, industry leaders will celebrate the ringing of the bell to ceremoniously inaugurate the new industry. Such a ceremony, they say, will only happen once:

“On Wall Street, the opening bell rings at 9:30 am ET every weekday morning. But for the emerging security token exchanges and ATS organizations that will run 24×7, their bell will only ring once — when they first open for business.”

Scheduled Speakers to Initiate the New Industry

The conference schedule is as follows:

Welcome & Opening Remarks : Lyndsi Stevens General Manager, Security Token Academy

Core Foundations of Security Tokens : Aubrey Chernick Founder & CEO, Security Token Academy

Keynote : David Weild CEO & Former vice Chairman of Nasdaq

-Ringing the Opening Bell for Security Token Industry-

Spotlight Talk : Dan Doney CEO, Securrency, Inc.

International Exchanges :

Adam Chapnick, Director of Programming, Security Token Academy

Alex Mole, Investor Relations Manager at Neufund

Cliff Pace, Head of the Malta Stock Exchange Fintech Accelerator Programme

Custody and Transfer Agents:

Yoel Goldfelder, CEO, VStock Transfer, LLC

Gautam Gujral, Founder & General Counsel, Vertalo

Oscar Jofre, Co-founder, President & CEO, KoreConX

Scott Purcell, CEO & Chief Trust OFficer, Prime Trust

Regulations:

Troy Parades, Founder & Former SEC Commissioner

Georgia Quinn, General Counsel, CoinList

Lee Schneider, General Counsel, block one

Real Estate:

Brad Greiwe, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Fifth Wall

Andrew Jewett, Co-founder, CEO, Property Coin

Jason Myers, Partner, Real Estate Capital Markets, Clifford Chance

Amy Wan, Founder & CEO, Sagewise

Jonathan Weilbrecht, Director of Real Estate Capital Markets, Harbor

Spotlight Talk:

Fabian Vogelsteller, Founder & Developer of ERC20 Token Standard

Technology Foundations:

Mason Borda, Co-founder, TokenSoft

Rachel Lam, Market Lead, Finacial Serivces, Hedera Hashgraph

Jor Law, Co-founder, VerifyInvestor, LLC

Tomohiro Nakamura, Chief Technology Officer, AnyPay

Alex Oage, Lead Technical Developer, Zeppelin

Boris Reznikov, Director of Partnerships, Stellar

Investors Panel:

Ryan Alfred, Founder & CEO, Framework

Gregory Keough, CEO, Finova Financial

Stephen McKeon, Associate Professor of Finance, UO Linquist College

Rob Nance, Managing Partner & CEO, CityBlock Capital

Primary Issuance/Secondary Trading:

Ryan Feit, Co-founder & CEO, SeedInvest

Howard Marks, Co-founder & CEO, StartEngine

Vince Molinari, CEO, Templum Markets

Michael Oved, Co-founder, Airswap

Jesus Rodriguez, Managing Partner, Invector Labs

Tokenization Platforms:

Daniel Coheur, Chief Strategy Officer, Tokeny

Carlos Domingo, CEO, Securitize

Chris Housser, Co-founder, Polymath

Lou Kerner, Co-founder& Partner, CryproOracle

Timo Lehes, Co-founder & CIO, Swarm Fund

Closing Remarks & Announcements:

Lyndsi Stevens, General Manager, Security Token Academy

It should also be noted that the event’s sponsors demonstrate further legitimacy not just for the conference, but for the ‘launch’ of the security token industry. Sponsors include: Merrill Lynch, Securrency, AnyPay, Clifford Chance, Harbor, KoreConX, Prime Trust, Seed Invest, Start Engine, Tokensoft, Tokeny, tZero, Verify Investor, Vertalo, and Weild & Co.

What do you think of such a ceremonial launch for the security token industry? Will security tokens rise to dominance in the remainder of 2018, or will unclear regulatory compliance remain problematic? Let us know what you think below.

Image courtesy of the Security Token Academy.