Buy Solana (SOL)

One of my latest big investments in the crypto space has been in the Solana token, SOL.

I recommend using Coinbase, Kraken, or Binance for purchasing your Solana tokens. All three platforms also allow you to stake your tokens and earn more income passively.

I’ll be writing more about this cryptoasset in the next weeks, so this post will be a work in progress.

One of the distinguishing features of Solana is that it uses a Proof of History algorithm for achieving consensus. As a reminder, Bitcoin uses Proof of Work while Ethereum is moving towards Proof of Stake.

SOL is the native token of the Solana blockchain and has three main use cases:

1. Staking
2. Transaction fees
3. Governance

The token distribution looks like this:

• Community 38.89%
• Seed Sale 16.23%
• Founding Sale 12.92%
• Team 12.79%
• Foundation 10.46%
• Validator Sale 5.18%
• Strategic Sale 1.88%
• CoinList Auction Sale 1.64%

You can view many of the projects within the Solana ecosystem on this Google Doc.

The best Solana-based DEXes are Serum and Raydium.

As I write this, NFTs have recently been launched and things are really heating up. While I don’t plan on splurging on the NFTs themselves, I believe they’ll bring a lot of awareness to the qualities of Solana as well as a big inflow of capital into the SOL token.

Check out the main Solana NFT projects Degen Ape Academy, SOL Punks SOL lions on Solanart.

Keep in mind that Solana is one of the newest of the big projects and so it should be considered to be in Beta stage. That means there might be periods of downtime and other similar incidents, and they shouldn’t be considered to be a huge deal at this stage.

There are many knowledgeable people that know much more than me about Solana and I’ve learnt a lot from them, so I’ll just paste some of their memorable tweets:

Why Bullish on Solana

What are Solana Stake Pools?

 

Buy Solana (SOL)

If you want to get started easily with the Bitcoin Lightning Network to make low-fee payments, I would suggest starting with Muun Wallet.

While the Lightning Network (LN) has been put in doubt in the past due to a low rate of adoption, there are signs of the technology being finally ready for take-off due to the significant improvements made not only in the network itself but most importantly in the user interface and security models of the various apps that can be used to interact with the LN.

I will continue to expand on this article in the future but I will definitely be keeping an eye on the developments in this space as I think that it could be an important part of Bitcoin’s adoption process now that countries (the first being El Salvador) are starting to make Bitcoin legal tender. Keep in mind that having Bitcoin made legal tender means that when you make a payment in Bitcoin there is no question of capital gains tax liability when you make a payment for a product whose price is denominated in a fiat currency.

Trade anything to anything on Uphold

Uphold Disclaimer: Assets available on Uphold are different per region. All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are therefore not subject to protection.

There are so many trading platforms and financial reserves, it’s easy to find several that will get the job done for you. The only problem is finding one that suits all your needs. For example, traders interested in several asset classes often have to rely on cash as the intermediary when moving their investments from one asset to another.

For instance, you may have to liquidate your gold, silver, or stocks before you can buy cryptocurrency. Sometimes you even have to convert the crypto asset to fiat currency or Bitcoin to buy another crypto asset.

These are some of the problems that Uphold seeks to solve. It boasts itself as the world’s first global transparent financial reserve that lets you convert “anything to anything” as long as it’s listed on the platform. They also provide several other innovative products you might find useful as an investor. Let’s take a closer look at Uphold below.

What is Uphold?

Formerly known as Bitreserve, Uphold is a trading platform that facilitates cross-asset trading. It began in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, CA. The platform’s number one selling point is that you can trade anything for anything.

For example, suppose you are a holder of gold and wish to diversify your portfolio to include cryptocurrencies. In that case, you don’t have to sell your gold and deposit your funds to another platform to purchase crypto. Uphold will facilitate converting all or a fraction of whatever asset you own into anything you want without ever having to leave the platform.

Uphold also features zero trading fees, although the company makes money through spreads (more on that later). Moreover, it offers many other interesting features, such as allowing you to transfer your funds to friends and family, get paid by your employer in assets other than national currencies, or spend using a unique master card.

Uphold Review Summary:

Pros

• Supports cross-asset trading
• Excellent security with 2-FA, Plaid bank account connection, and encrypted website. Also hasn’t had any security issues since its launch in 2015
• Fast and easy transfer of funds
• There’s transparency about the spread and no hidden fees
• Commission-free trading
• Available in over 184 countries
• Provides a powerful API for developers to build applications

Cons

• Less crypto-asset options available than on some of the other exchanges
• Instances of users unable to access their accounts due to issues related to authentication codes
• Requires KYC documents
• Spread is higher than a few other leading crypto exchanges
• Conversion fees are applicable when converting between currencies
• Not all account funding methods are available in all the supported countries

Uphold Services and Features Offered

Anything-to-Anything Trading

The opportunity to trade your asset for any other asset on the platform is a big time saver and may even save users money as well. This can be attributed to the fact that you don’t have to make multiple conversions by getting fiat currency first, then using the fiat currency to buy another asset. The process is also straightforward and completes in just a few clicks.

Instant Transfers

Uphold lets you transfer any of your assets to friends and family for free. The platform lets you transfer anything from cryptocurrency to USD super-fast. Even if your investment is in precious metals such as gold, you can still transfer it as BTC, USD, or any fiat currency. The conversion happens in the background and is instant.

Automated Trading

The platform lets you trade with the help of trading bots that allow you to set a trading schedule. For instance, you can choose to purchase a specific asset every other week, two weeks, or month. You can make it so that it coincides with your paycheck or a time that you speculate prices may be favorable. It is also the perfect way to approach the dollar-cost averaging trading technique.

Employer Payments

How about skipping trading with a bot that purchases on your behalf when your salary is due and instead let your employer deliver a fraction of the paycheck into whatever asset you prefer? You can also choose to get it in a variety of national currencies with your Uphold account.

Universal Gold (UPXAU)

Uphold breaks a few barriers that otherwise make gold inaccessible to most potential investors to make gold available to everyone. These obstacles include the inability to spend your precious metal, high storage costs, and large spreads during liquidation.

Uphold’s UPXAU tokens are each equivalent to a single ounce of gold. Your purchased gold is stored securely in the Perth Mint in Western Australia and insured. What’s more, you can spend it in multiple currencies using a special debit card from Uphold (keep reading).

 

The Uphold Mastercard Debit Card

Uphold users can apply for a Mastercard that lets you spend anything you hold, from cash to gold and digital coins. You can swipe the card at more than 50 million merchants and on nearly any ATM worldwide. The company also issues a 1% Cash-Back and 2% Crypto-Back reward when you make a purchase using the debit card.

Educational Material

If you are new to the world of crypto investing or need to stay updated, Uphold’s got your back with a bunch of educational resources, including:

• Cryptionary: What’s the difference between a coin and a token? How about an ICO and IPO? There is so much jargon that goes into trading crypto assets, which is why Uphold’s cryptionary may be just what a new trader needs. It is a cryptocurrency dictionary that gives you quick definitions of most of the terms you may encounter.
• Uphold unboxed: This is the daily Uphold newsletter that brings users the latest news about the market, including how the major and emerging crypto assets are doing.
• Uphold blog: It covers wide topics about investments in cryptocurrency, equities, forex, and precious metals. It provides various guides that may help both beginner and expert traders gain valuable insights as they grow their skills.

Brave Integration

Brave is a browser that rewards users for their attention, unlike most conventional browsers where ads pop up and your valuable data is shared. Uphold facilitates the unlocking of your Basic Attention Token (BAT) on Brave Browser.

The browser has a built-in wallet, but it does not let you send your BAT tokens to a cryptocurrency wallet address. Users have to sign in to Uphold to unlock the BAT they get from advertising and earn tips as publishers.

Uphold Supported Assets

You probably already know that the platform supports crypto, fiat money, equities, and precious metals. Here are some more details on each of the categories.

• Fiat Currency: 27 national currencies, including ARS, AUD, BRL, CAD, HRK, CZK, DKK, AED, EUR, HKD, HUF, INR, ILS, KES, MXN, NZD, NOK, PHP, PLN, GBP, RON, SGD, SEK, CHF, USD, JPY, and CNY.
• Crypto: 58 Cryptocurrencies, including the major coins, alt-coins, stable-coins, and emerging tokens.
• US Equities: Fractional equities services that let you purchase any of 50 U.S. Stocks for as little as $1.
• Precious metals: Purchase gold, platinum, palladium, and silver, all of which come with zero custody costs and instant liquidity into any of the 27 national currencies listed. They are also spendable using the Uphold debit card.
• Environmental Assets: Including the novel carbon credit token UPCO2 and the clean BTC variant – Bitcoin Zero.

Payment Methods

Uphold allows debit or credit cards as well as Visa and Mastercard payment methods. The platform has multiple virtual Uphold money cards to which you add funds. As for withdrawing your funds, you get your money deposited directly into your bank account.

These payment methods are only available to verified Uphold users. They let you link up to 3 debit or credit cards. Moreover, the platform requires that all debit or credit cards be 3D secure; otherwise, you will get an error message when attempting to deposit.

Fees and Limits

Although the platform charges 0% commissions on trades and free transfer of funds between Uphold users, it is hardly a free service. You can expect to pay for withdrawing crypto assets to private wallets as well as bank withdrawals through the Swift network. Additional charges also apply in the form of spreads as follows.

You may expect to incur a 3.99% fee on funds deposited via credit or debit cards, among other service charges you may expect to incur with Uphold. Moving crypto-assets off the platform attracts a fee of $2.99.

The platform also charges an exchange fee when a user buys or converts between different currencies based on a percentage of the transacted value.

The minimum deposit amount is $50, €50, or £50 per day, and the maximum is $1,500 a week. You can check out their full list of fees for personal and business accounts and currency conversion charges here.

Privacy and Security

Uphold asks for personal information during the KYC procedure, including:

• Current residence address
• A government-issued ID
• A clear passport photo

The platform has also increased their level of security with:

• 2-FA for an extra layer of security
• Encryption of private keys to protect against hacking
• 24/7 monitoring: Uphold states they have their Security Operations Center running all the time.
• Strict security measures that the staff must follow, including submitting to thorough background checks
• Uphold is also regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, FinCEN, and is compliant with global Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules.

The platform links bank accounts through Plaid, which is an industry-standard among FinTech companies.

User Reviews and Testimonies

Uphold stands out as a highly trusted company among its users, as evidenced by reviews on Trustpilot and g2.com. Among its outstanding qualities are lightning-speed transactions and cashback policies, and ease of use.

One issue that kept coming up is the difficulty of reaching customer support, probably due to the platform having many users. Given that most people leave reviews after a bad experience, Uphold comes off as a great trading platform.

Verdict: Is Uphold for You?

First things first, financial platforms keep developing, improving their features, and changing their rates, so be sure to double-check the information provided on this review with Uphold.

That being said, it is an excellent financial platform for anyone who wishes to invest in cryptocurrency, precious metals, stocks, environmental assets, and national currencies. It takes the hassle out of investing and trading by allowing you to do it from anywhere in the world and at any time.

The platform takes away most of the barriers that would prevent a small-time investor from getting in on the action, which is not to say that you can’t go big. In short, it is a perfect fit for any investor.

Trade anything to anything on Uphold

Uphold Disclaimer: Uphold offers Cryptoasset investing within the EU/UK (by Uphold Europe Limited) USA (by Uphold HQ Inc).  

Capital at risk. As with any asset, the value of cryptoassets can go up or down and there can be a substantial risk that you lose all your money buying, selling, holding or investing in cryptoassets. Your cryptoassets are not subject to protection. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding cryptoassets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. Uphold makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about Uphold.

Most of us are either underbanked or unbanked. Do you think I’m exaggerating?

Let’s take a look.

2 Billion people around the world do not have a bank account. These are people that live in areas where banks don’t have a presence or daily use, or they have been outright rejected by banks as they are not profitable clients. Many countries have only 10-30% of their population within the banking system. The rest live their lives without access to the banking services that we’ve all taken for granted all our lives.

This is a statistical fact.

Now, how about the underbanked. This is a bit more of a nuanced argument, but hear me out. If you’re reading this blog, you most likely have one or multiple bank accounts, have been used to using debit cards and credit cards to buy things online and in physical stores, and have probably traveled to places where you had to use other currencies. These are basic banking services that most of us in developed countries use on a frequent if not daily basis, and we take them for granted.

However, when was the last time you stopped to wonder why every card transaction suffers a fee of 3-8%? And what about remittances? For those millions of workers who move to other countries in order to be able to sustain their family back home, fees for remittances account to around 9-11% every time they send money to their loved ones. These fees have not changed in 100 years. Is this normal, given the technological advances we’ve made in the meantime? I think banks and associated financial institutions have been doing a lousy job…

Still not convinced that you’re underbanked? How about the excessive KYC/AML procedures that dog every account opening with a bank? Or how about the open discrimination practiced by banks against individuals from certain countries (I know about this first hand) or against businesses operating in industries that the governments stated they do not like or support?

Or let’s talk credit. Today’s major banks only give decent loans for buying real estate (again, because that’s what the government wants you to do). They will fleece you on credit card interest rates, and good luck getting a loan to make an investment or to start a new business. How about offering assets beyond real estate as collateral?

DeFi changes this.

It decentralizes finance and banking. The promise is to disintermediate the banks and get rid of all the problems I just mentioned. In this article I’ll show you some of the use cases of DeFi and the platforms that you can use.

As someone with an unbounded interest in software and finance, DeFi is a natural rabbit hole for me to dive into. It’s a vast world, although it’s still in its infancy. Over time, I hope to dedicate a lot more time to research and investing within this space.

While in the early days of Bitcoin, most of the talk centered around how it works and its future potential, nowadays it seems to have consolidated its position as a store of value, and most of the news and discussion focuses around price action, regulations and adoption. While that is also interesting, DeFi is more aligned to my core interests and also kind of feels how the Bitcoin community felt in the early days.

Speaking of community, most of the discussions around DeFi seem to be happening within the Discord and Telegram channels of the many projects that dot the DeFi landscape. Twitter and YouTube are also important places to be for any DeFi enthusiast.

This post will serve as a repository for my overall view of the space, and eventually, I expect that I will write about certain projects separately as my knowledge levels up.

Best DeFi tools

• DappRadar – Track, analyze and discover decentralized applications.
• Defiyield – Trade and Swap assets across different blockchains. Add liquidity to earn yield. Also includes the largest database of DeFi project audits and an impermanent loss calculator.
• DeFi Rating – a simple dashboard for tracking DeFi positions in top protocols like Synthetix, Set Protocol, dYdX and Compound. Easily analyze and manage all your DeFi assets in one-stop-shop interface.
• Defillama – DeFi analytics
• Zapper – a simple dashboard for DeFi. Easily track and visualize all your DeFi assets and liabilities in one simple interface.
• Zerion – DeFi dashboard/portfolio
• Nansen – Ethereum wallet analytics.
• Furucombo – a tool built for end-users to optimize their DeFi strategy simply by drag and drop.
• Ethereum to Polygon Bridge – useful for moving assets to Polygon and thus paying lower fees.

My favorite DeFi projects

I’ve tried to group them into a few main categories, although some projects span multiple categories.

Trading

• Uniswap – a decentralized exchange. Together with Sushiswap, currently the best place to trade tokens in a decentralized manner.
• SushiSwap – swap, earn, stack yields, lend, borrow, leverage all on one decentralized, community driven platform.
• PancakeSwap – #1 AMM and yield farm on Binance Smart Chain.
• Bancor – another DEX. I find it particularly interest due to its liquidity pools that offer impermanent loss protection.
• Curve – a decentralized exchange that’s optimized for assets with the same relative value, for example USDC or Tether, or evcen WBTC and renBTC. Better than Uniswap for such trades.
• Perpetual Protocol – lets you trade a wide range of assets, including short selling, with up to 10x leverage. In addition, you can earn fees by providing liquidity or staking protocol tokens. All this can be done programmatically, or via web3 interfaces.

DEX Aggregators

• 1inch – a DEX aggregator that works out the best crypto prices across decentralized exchanges and multiple blockchains (Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Polygon).
• Matcha – finds you the best prices across exchanges and combines them into one trade.
• Kyber – connects liquidity from diverse sources to provide the best rates for takers such as DApps, Wallets, DEXs, Aggregators, and users.
• Paraswap – Best DEX prices for DeFi Traders & dApps.

Money Markets

• Aave – an open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol for earning interest on deposits and borrowing assets.
• Alchemix – self-repaying loans.
• Compound – a lending protocol enabling users to lend and borrow popular cryptocurrencies like Ether, Dai and Tether.
• Maker – a permissionless lending platform responsible for the creation of DAI, the first decentralized stablecoin, built on Ethereum.
• Venus – a decentralized marketplace for lenders and borrowers with borderless stablecoins, running on the Binance Smart Chain.
• Yearn – a suite of products in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) that provides lending aggregation, yield generation, and insurance on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol is maintained by various independent developers and is governed by YFI holders.
• Alpha Homora – DeFi’s first leveraged yield farming product.

Derivatives

• Synthetix – lets users create synthetic versions of traditional assets (like stocks and commodities) on the Ethereum blockchain.
• Opyn – DeFi’s options protocol.
• Ribbon – generate yield through automated options strategies.
• Mirror –  allows the creation of fungible assets, “synthetics”, that track the price of real-world assets.
• Pods – enables the easiest way to hedge crypto assets in Ethereum. The Pods Protocol is a decentralized non-custodial Options Protocol that allows users to buy, sell and provide liquidity using the new Options AMM.
• BarnBridge – A fluctuations derivatives protocol for hedging yield sensitivity and market price.

Insurance

• Nexus Mutual – most well-known insurance system in DeFi. Get covered against smart contract failure & exchange hacks.
• InsurAce – a leading decentralized insurance protocol, providing reliable, robust and secure insurance services to DeFi users, allowing them to secure their investment funds against various risks.

Asset Management

• Harvest – yield farming pools that automatically get you the highest yields.
• Enzyme – a decentralised asset management infrastructure built on Ethereum. Using Enzyme Smart Vaults, individuals and communities can build, scale and monetise investment (or execution) strategies that employ the newest innovations in decentralised finance.
• DHedge – join in funds managed by third parties or create your own fund.

Staking

• Lido – simplified and secure staking for digital assets.

Stablecoins

• Terra – a financial ecosystem that includes a stablecoin facilitator, synthetic assets, savings accounts and more.
• Frax – the Frax Protocol introduced the world to the concept of a cryptocurrency being partially backed by collateral and partially stabilized algorithmically.
• Empty Set Dollar – an algorithmic stablecoin built to be the reserve currency of Decentralized Finance.

Taxation of DeFi

It is extremely important that you understand how DeFi is taxed and that you have proper tools that can help you out. Read my article on the best crypto tax tools for more information and some suggestions. My favorite tool is Cointracker.

Learning resources

Books

There’s a lot of rubbish and very little books with substance on the topic of DeFi. It’s a field that is developing rapidly so things quickly get out of date, but these books below are recommended.

The “How to DeFi” series is the best introduction to all the facets of DeFi, while for those who want to dig deeper into the various concepts and terminologies you’ll see bandied about, Lisa Tan’s book is essential.

Sites

• Bankless – an extremely popular site and community around DeFi, Ethereum and NFTs
• DeFi Slate
• DeFi Rate – explore interest rates from the top cryptocurrency lending protocols and crypto banks.
• Decrypt – news and guides.
• The Defiant – news.
• DeFi Pulse – DeFi rankings.

Tutorials

• Yield Farming 101
• Guide to becoming a DeFi power user

YouTube

• DeFi Dad
• Finematics
• Gabriel Haines
• Taiki Maeda
• The Defiant
• DeFi Slate

Wallets

• Metamask
• Argent

Finally, I should also note that I’m seeing a lot of bullishness around DAOs, so these seem to be the next hot thing. It would pay to keep an eye on any DAO-related projects that come about in the next few months.

Tokenize your assets with Fintelum

The advent of cryptocurrencies has inspired the emergence of a whole new financial era – where money is equivalent to technology in many ways. Today, it is possible for you to convert any of the assets you have into digital tokens – using tokenization.

And Fintelum is one of the pioneers in this sector. The platform allows you to create tokens that represent your assets or invest in other tokenized securities – all while focusing on compliance.

In this review, I will introduce you to what tokenization is and how Fintelum can help you tokenize your assets. In addition, I will also walk you through the process of how you can invest in tokenized assets through Fintelum, specifically by talking about my investment in the KEEPP project.

In addition to this review, make sure you check out my podcast episode with Liza Aizupiete, the co-cofounder and Managing Director of Fintelum. We spoke all about how Fintelum operates and about the future that Liza sees in this space.

What is Tokenization?

In the most simple terms – to tokenize is to represent the value or commitment of an asset as a crypto token. A tokenized security will be a legal agreement that is represented as a digital asset or a smart contract. When your securities are delineated by a smart contract on a blockchain, it offers transparency and trustless access to information.

Today, you can tokenize almost any asset, be it company equity, debt, real estate, a product, or service – thus creating an unchangeable record of ownership. Not only that, you can create tokens that represent whole or fractional ownership of the security.

What is Fintelum Tokenization?

Fintelum has designed its unique Security Token Implementation process that allows its users to tokenize their assets. Read this guide about the legal basics of tokenization to learn more about why they are a viable way of implementation.

In a nutshell, the tokens created by Fintelum have the following features:

• The tokens have an Ethereum Solidity code base.
• The implementation follows a standard protocol with flexible features.
• It tackles the need for a compliant blockchain instrument that represents a transferable security in a given jurisdiction.
• Fully compliant with given security laws – including KYC, AML, and CTF.

As you can see, Fintelum aims to give investors an opportunity to tokenize their assets – without compromising on the security aspects. The company is based in Latvia, Europe.

In addition to token issuance, Fintelum also offers the following associated services:

• It functions as an equity crowdfunding platform for investments in companies based anywhere, although the legal structure will likely be chosen to be Latvia, Luxembourg and Ireland.
• Enables issuance of tokens in both primary and secondary markets.
• Allows users to invest in security tokens from anywhere in the world in fiat and cryptocurrencies.

Compared to the few other platforms that offer similar services – Fintelum differentiates itself by bringing in years of technical experience and legal expertise. The team behind Fintelum has been working together for over a decade and has significant knowledge about the ins and outs of the crypto industry.

In other words, Fintelum has a unique value proposition for investors that are looking for innovative ways to store their assets and make sizable returns compared to conventional listed securities.

Fintelum Products

The solutions offered by Fintelum can be broadly categorized into two – for investors and for issuers.

As an issuer, you will be utilizing the platform’s tokenization services to issue tokens for your respective asset. On the other hand, as an investor, Fintelum can connect you to viable investment opportunities.

Fintelum for Issuers

As I mentioned above, for issuers – the most important step on Fintelum is to tokenize your assets. However, as imaginable – not many issuers might be familiar with the concept of tokenization or how it practically works. Not to worry, Fintelum has developed a five-step process that can assist you every step of the way.

You will only have to provide the information you have regarding your assets, and Fintelum will take care of the rest.

Let us take a look at how you can start crowdfunding on Fintelum:

Step 1: Assess What You Want to Tokenize

Fintelum allows you to tokenize almost any type of financial instrument imaginable. Whether it is a company, a fund, a corporate bond, a contractual promise, or even a possession such as a boat or a property – Fintelum can create a token for your respective asset.

As such, your first option will be to define whether you want to create a security, a utility, or a hybrid token?

Step 2: Enter What Information You Already Have

If you are getting started on a new project, then Fintelum will ask you to take a look at the minimum requirements for your token to start selling. This includes:

• Idea
• Team
• Proof of concept
• Existing business
• Paying clients
• Minimum viable product.

If you have two of these six qualifications, then you can proceed to start setting the targets for your enterprise.

Step 3: Choose Your Jurisdiction

To proceed further, you will need to specify which is the appropriate jurisdiction of your project and your participants.

Step 4: Choose Your Communication Method

Based on your requirements, you will need to define whether your project is going to be on a local or a global scale. And consequently, how are you going to reach out to your investors and community?

Step 5: Let Fintelum Take Over

At this stage, you have provided everything that Fintelum needs to issue your token. The platform will look into KYC/AML compliance, the custody of crypto and escrow, define the security and utility tokens, and transfer agency.

In addition, Fintelum will also facilitate the secondary P2P trading and implementation of your STO. You can then sit back and focus on running your business efficiently.

What is an STO?

For those who are entirely new to tokenomics, you could also benefit from understanding what an STO is before you consider Fintelum. STO stands for Security Token Offering – and it is a method of fundraising that enables investors to invest in opportunities from anywhere.

Compared to the more popular Initial Coin Offering (ICO), the main attraction of an STO is that it conforms to regulatory requirements. It brings more regulation to blockchain-based crowdfunding and providers more guarantees by issuing tokens.

In other words, when investors inject money into a project through Fintelum, they receive a token in return.
The type of token will depend on the type of asset. Regardless of what it represents, the token is bound by both securities and crowdfunding laws which will be clearly laid out in the offering document following the KYC/AML processes.

With this in mind, let me tell you how an investor can use Fintelum to invest through an STO.

Fintelum for Investors

For investors, Fintelum serves as an innovative platform to get you access to unconventional opportunities. But if you are someone who is exposed to decentralized ICOs, then your first question would be why should you choose a centralized platform?

In order to answer this, Fintelum stresses the point of exerting control over your rights as an investor. For instance, the KYC/AML compliance ensures your ownership rights, voting rights, right to income, right to ownership inheritance, right to true and unobstructed information, litigation rights, and any other specific contractual rights.

Without such regulation,  external controls over your asset might not be easy to attain. In other words, security tokens that follow compliance are potentially a better way to represent your lawful rights as an investor. It not only enforces protection but also enables the issuer the obligation to fulfill them.

This protection can be crucial for an investor – when thinking of the security of the assets and your rights. Additionally, another important aspect of investing in tokens is access to the secondary market.

Now that I have established why investors might prefer to invest in tokenized assets – let me tell you how you can use Fintelum to start investing.

Step 1: Register as an Investor

The first step is to create your account on Fintelum by providing some basic personal information.

Step 2: Choose Your Project

Fintelum will then give you a list of vetted projects. Each project profile will include details of the company, its mission, use of funds, the total funding sought, and the type of investment. You will have options to choose between dividend shares, equity, asset-backed tokens, bonds, profit share, real estate, and revenue share.

I decided to invest in the KEEPP project, so I hit the “Make an investment” button to get started.

Step 3: Provide Your Compliance Information

As an investor, you will be required to offer further information in order to comply with the KYC/AML requirements. You will have to complete this step only once. When you are whitelisted – you can proceed to start investing in your chosen projects securely.

There’s nothing too daunting here, although as investors we are tired of filling in KYC forms, this is a necessity for any financial institution.

For ID verification you can use either your ID card, your passport, or your driving license. Here are a few screenshots of how this looks.

Once you’re verified, you can proceed with your investment. During the KYC process, you will also be asked how much you are going to invest and whether you will be using EUR, ETH or BTC.

At the end of the process, you will get an offer for the tokens and you need to proceed with your deposit of EUR, ETH or BTC.

Step 4: Trade Security Tokens

You can acquire new tokens or sell any existing ones you have through the Fintelum P2P trading desk.

However, this will be possible only if the issuer has opted for the secondary market. If not, you will have to purchase the tokens at the time of the STO.

Step 5: Track Your Investments

Once you have invested, you can follow your portfolio and see the updates on the Fintelum Investor profile. You will be able to access reports on your investment history and see any additional income if applicable.

If any of your projects has an affiliate program, you will have the option to enroll directly from your profit and profit from further offerings.

Why I Invested in the KEEPP Project

The KEEPP project is currently available for funding at time of writing, so I decided to invest in this project. I had to go through the KYC process I just described in order to be able to receive the investment offer, whereby I then had to transfer the money via bank transfer in order to formalize the investment.

What I really liked about Fintelum and the KEEPP project, is that, unlike other similar crowdfunding platforms, a ton of information was provided about the project. Indeed, the prospectus was comparable to other prospectuses I’ve analyzed in the past for companies going public. The document was written in perfect English, and some other languages were also made available.

With such projects, a major concern is whether the company will accurately report its financial performance. This is crucial because investor returns depend on a positive result for the company, and in that case, to what degree was it a positive result. To make sure that a stakeholder is on the board, Liza Aizupiete from Fintelum will be representing investors’ interests by being on the company’s board of directors.

Another important element is what kind of shares you’re getting. In this case, we are getting class B shares, and that entitles investors to be the first to receive dividends in proportion to the shares held. We also need to consider what price we are paying, and here we see that this round of investment carries a €510,000 share premium. That means that the price per share is €2.50, whereas the nominal or original value of the share was €1. This is normal for such issuances, as the value of the original shares would have typically gone up due to the company’s successful operation in the earlier years.

The team behind any business is always of utmost importance to me. In KEEPP’s case we can see that they have a solid team with lots of experience in the different matters needed for the successful operation of this business.

KEEPP is my first investment, but I’m hoping to see Fintelum continue to develop as a platform and put up more interesting projects. I’m also interested in the overall rate of acceptance of the STO model in Europe. It seems to be a space that’s heating up and I like the idea of directly investing in small and medium businesses in addition to my portfolio of public stocks.

Fintelum Development

Apart from investing and fundraising, Fintelum also offers development services. You can approach the platform for a customized solution on building a minimum viable product (MVP) or to set up a website for your business.

The company specializes in offering sophisticated solutions with a focus on user experience and user interface in mind. They are experts in developing complex payment systems, trading applications – for web-based, desktop, and mobile applications.

Fintelum Advisory

As I mentioned earlier, the team behind Fintelum has tons of experience when it comes to the development and legal aspects of building a business. The platform also offers advisory services for those who are seeking guidance during the establishment or the running of a business.

Here are certain areas where Fintelum can be of help:

• Developing a strategic vision
• Technical implementation
• Corporate finance
• Corporate governance
• Investor relations
• Brand development
• IT systems and security
• Token modeling

All in all, Fintelum has many facets that can be of high value to business owners.

Fintelum Fees and Charges

As a tailored token issuing service, the charges for tokenization will depend on each issuer’s specific requirements.

If you are an investor, the amount you pay for each token will also depend on the type of project you choose. However, it is unclear whether any other additional charges will be incurred when you make investments.

Fintelum Safety

As a crowdfunding platform, Fintelum holds responsibility for the funds and assets of both investors and issuers. This is where the KYC/AML compliance and smart contracts come into play. By deploying smart contracts on the blockchain, Fintelum ensures accurate records of all transactions.

Additionally, the whitelisting of investors using KYC/AML compliance will protect the issuer from any fraudulent process. In addition, Fintelum will only issue share-tokens when the crowdfunding is complete and thus – after the participants and their funds have even verified.

The smart contracts are created only at this point, and tokens are distributed to stakeholders via their Fintelum accounts. In case the issuers have enabled secondary markets, any transaction made will be recorded on the blockchain – and will be available for review whenever necessary.

Moreover, Fintelum implements its STOs on the Ethereum blockchain. If this system fails for any reason, it is possible to replicate the tokens on other blockchains – by following the same legal and business requirements. This makes the STO implementation of Fintelum dynamic, giving an additional layer of safety to your investments.

Fintelum Customer Service

As Fintelum offers tailored services,  you might be required to contact the team on several occasions. The platform has made this process easier for you to connect with experts directly through the platform.

Even if you are not an issuer or investor yet, you can reach out directly through the contact form, or through one of the social media pages of the company.

Fintelum – What’s the Final Verdict?

If you are looking for alternative investment options, then Fintelum offers a way for you to achieve this. As an issuer, you have the opportunity to gain access to more investors to secure crowdfunding.

As an investor, you will be able to find innovative projects to back without having to compromise on any of the guaranteed rights to your invested capital.

Fintelum is headed towards an inevitable future, where STOs, ICOs, and tokenization are about to become increasingly common in the capital markets. With its regulatory and compliance features, the platform sets itself apart – by making the process more secure for all participants involved.

Tokenize your assets with Fintelum