Thailand’s national stock exchange has launched a new blockchain-powered component for startups.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has launched a crowdfunding marketplace that is built on blockchain technology in a bid to widen the access to capital funds for domestic startups.

According to an announcement from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on Friday, the new service, dubbed LiVE, uses blockchain to enable peer-to-peer trading in an effort to help startups access new capital from investors, including those drawn from the venture capital and institutional investor worlds.

SET officials said that so far, eight companies have joined the blockchain platform, with another 50 companies scheduled to participate in the initiative.

SET’s President Kesara Manchusree said in the announcement.

“‘LiVE’ platform will be a key mechanism to help drive forward Thailand’s growth especially enabling startups and SMEs to have more financial accesses through crowdfunding. Businesses can utilize LiVE to promote to a wider target group while using [the] partnership to expand [our] customer base.”

The launch follows a year-long technological development process. As CoinDesk previously reported, the SET began planning to build a crowdfunding platform for startups in March of last year. At the time, the SET said that over 600 companies had shown interest in joining the blockchain-powered marketplace.

Meanwhile, other stock exchanges in the world, such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, are also looking to blockchain as a means to develop securities markets for smaller businesses.

SET image via Shutterstock