Online investment platform BnkToTheFuture will expand its security token offering (STOs) business to the U.S with an investment in a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed broker dealer.

Announced in a Nov. 7 statement to investors, BnkToTheFuture acquired an undisclosed stake in BMI Capital International’s holding company, which enables the lending platform to offer STOs to the U.S. market.

In an email to CoinDesk, BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon said:

“We forecast by 2020 up to 50 percent will opt for an innovative security token that improves the potential for returns for investors over traditional equity. We are aiming to build a new industry and asset class.”

Launched in 2010, BnkToTheFuture is a Cayman Islands-based platform that allows accredited investors to raise equity for financial technology and crypto companies.

Since opening STO investments in 2019, it’s launched two security tokens, including the Bitfinex hack recovery token convertible to Bitfinex equity, and the Lottery.com revenue share token. Dixon said three more offerings are scheduled for 2020 and the platform has brought 450 individuals to invest in STOs.

All three strategic investments or acquisitions BnkToTheFuture made this year were to expand its STO business, Dixon said, including an investment in Altcoin.io, which will support a security token exchange to launch in 2020.

“We are currently working on security tokens built on the liquid Bitcoin sidechain so we can automate Bitcoin dividends under a revenue share model,” he said.

Dixon previously said 18 percent of the pitches the firm receives from companies looking for funding were for security tokens.

Currently 95 percent of deals on BnkToTheFuture’s platform are in traditional equity. In 2019, 61 percent of investments were made in crypto. Of the crypto investments 42 percent was in ether, 36 percent bitcoin and 22 percent stablecoins.

Funding photo via Shutterstock