With Bitcoin’s launch in 2009, blockchain technology brought along a digital financial system that until then had existed only in science fiction.
Back then, the idea that someone could rely on a digital system to handle financial assets, their actual money, had been surreal. After all, anything could happen.
“People could steal that money easily.”
“They can make as much money as they want from nothing.”
These are just a few phrases that were thrown out before Bitcoin established that through blockchain technology, one could actually ensure that no one could have free run at someone else’s wealth, that no one could just digitally print as much money as they want, and that defined rules were always followed.
Back to the present, where multiple blockchain platforms, cryptocurrencies and digital tokens have only strengthened the notion of blockchain technology’s ability to handle financial assets impeccably, it was only natural for someone to think for it to handle finances beyond digital cash.
The idea gave way to Polymath, a blockchain based platform that opens doors to turn real-world assets into blockchain tokens, and paves a path to a whole new world of transactional possibilities.
Polymath Review: What is Polymath?
The Polymath Network is a decentralized platform that was founded in October of 2017.
Based in Barbados and built on top of Ethereum, the platform was officially launched in January 2018, where it started its beta testing through various phases. It was then launched as a fully-fledged platform on August 21, 2018, where it is now available to the public.
Created out of the idea of tokenizing real-world assets such as physical commodities and real estate, as well as financial assets such as equities, Polymath brought about the notion of handling large-scale assets through the click of a button.
Yet, the idea of digital portability was presented with the assurance of utmost security, thanks to the advancements that blockchain technology brings to the table.
And that idea has only been reinforced with time due to how secure blockchain has become.
Furthermore, all of this was said to be achieved through following proper legal frameworks to tokenize such assets, leaving no room for the legality of such an action.
Fortunately, this is all not just talk. The Polymath team has ensured to put guidelines in place to follow for all of its users, by which it ensures that the tokenization follows a legal process while ensuring compliance with the local and international law.
If the process sounds somewhat similar to you with the tokenization of digital services through Ethereum, then you are not the only one. Polymath identifies the similarity and makes sure to clarify the distinction between it. It acknowledges that Ethereum achieved unprecedented milestones when it came to tokens with digital utility, and it clarifies that its own platform intends to do the same, but for tokens offering financial security.
The platform fuels its operations through its eponymous, native token Polymath (POLY), which is already available through multiple exchanges and is not that hard to obtain.
All of these well-thought-out ideas come together to create a blockchain whose team is self-aware and knows what it has to do to achieve its goal.
And that brings us to discuss Polymath’s functions and offerings in a detailed manner.
Polymath Review: Everything That Can Be Tokenized, Will Be Tokenized
We have already briefly mentioned the types of assets that Polymath can tokenize.
However, the platform’s offerings for tokenization do not end at conventional commodities or equities.
Staying true to its name, which essentially denotes to someone’s high expertise in various aspects, the platform believes on the idea that “Everything that can be tokenized, will be tokenized” and means to capitalize on this notion by even including venture capital funds, public companies, art, intellectual property, and even professional sports teams to the mix of assets that could be represented through security tokens on the blockchain.
This creates a whole array of possibilities for anyone who has a real-world asset and wants it to be represented through a digital form.
Which brings us to the question of why would anyone want to represent their real-world assets in a token form in the first place?
For the sake of looking at this from the perspective of an asset owner, let’s go through a few examples.
- Imagine that you own a 20-acre farm that is located over a thousand miles away from your current residence. You know that you own it, you just never get to visit it as much as you want. Then one day, you have a sudden need to turn your wealth from that farm into liquid cash. What do you do? You first visit that location, put it on sale, and have to stay far from home only so you could go through a lengthy process even after finding a buyer, just to complete the legal proceedings that would lead you to get that cash you wanted. If only there was an option for you to make the transaction less of a daunting task. Won’t that be beneficial?
Sounds tiring? Let’s have another example.
- You have some expensive jewelry in your bank’s locker which you want to sell off. You go through the necessary procedures of having it appraised and put it on the market. That process in itself is tiresome in its wait. If only you had a larger market that could buy that jewelry right off of your hands without having to wait for its physical transfer and their own appraisal again and again, won’t that make life sweet?
Now let’s have another example.
- You have an idea for a business venture. You have met with a few people for funding, but while they praise your idea either out of politeness or just out of honesty, they do not feel comfortable investing in it. It’s cited that it is happening due to your new venture’s experimental or subversive nature. If only you had a larger investor base to raise funds like blockchain projects do through initial coin offerings (ICOs). Won’t that be great?
And here’s our last example.
- Think that you are planning to make your successful business go public. However, due to the nature of your business, you might not be getting many buyers for your shares if you hit the conventional market. There are a few buyers that live cross country, but getting them to access your local market will be impossible from a logistics perspective. If only you could transfer your shares digitally. That would have made it all so much easier, won’t it?
And those problems along with many others within their domain are why anyone would want to digitize their assets, and why Polymath is not on the wrong path from a business perspective.
Polymath Review: How Polymath Makes It All Happen
Polymath has a propitious system in place that allows any interested users of the platform to tokenize their securities and raise funds easily.
Whenever someone wants to tokenize their assets, they can turn towards Polymath and start the process by issuing their ST20 token, with ST20 being the standard for security tokens on the Polymath platform. Yes, you would be correct in thinking that they are meant to be a play on words for Ethereum’s popular ERC20 tokens, tokens that follow their own development standard to ensure stability in use.
The ST20 token that has been issued by a tokenization hopeful then gets locked into a smart contract until it is reviewed and passed by a legal expert.
These legal experts, called legal delegates on the Polymath blockchain, then review how and why the token is being issued and which asset is being turned into a security over the blockchain through the token.
Interested legal delegates then bid on the new issuance to represent it in a legal setting in order to complete its framework accordingly.
Once the issuer chooses a legal delegate’s bid and goes through the process of completing the legal framework, it leads to the ST20 token being released from the smart contract and becomes available for transactions and investments.
From here, it is a process of the issuer keeping the token to themselves in case it is a commodity that they just wanted to tokenize, or put the commodity up for sale. In the case of initial public offerings or in fundraising events for new ventures, these tokens can then be used for sale in order to raise the required and relevant funding that the issuer expects out of the action.
On the other hand, if someone wants to take part in transactions of purchase over the Polymath blockchain or if they want to invest in an upcoming project which is holding its security token offering, then they first need to go through a few know your customer (KYC) requirements, which are facilitated through real-worldKYC/accreditation providersthat offer those services on the Polymath blockchain.
These providers then verify the identity and legal requirements for buyers to operate on the Polymath blockchain. This whole process, while sounding daunting on paper, is actually going to be smooth in its execution due to the way that the system has been built. Furthermore, putting these requirements in place actually saves sellers of security tokens from any scams by ensuring that they are not dealing with entities that could be operating illegally. This is also one of the reasons why the ST20 tokens are also referred to by the platform as being “Identity Aware” and “KYC” tokens.
One more great aspect of Polymath is how it does not ask for someone from a business background to have the knowledge of operating a blockchain only so they could issue a token. Instead, it makes the process of issuing tokens to be fairly simple, especially if it has to do with raising funds through a security token offering.
For instance, if someone wants to create a token for a security token offering, they can start with signing-up on the Polymath platform. From there, they can pick out their token symbol and token name. After this comes the process of choosing and getting verified by a legal provider.
Once that process has been completed, the user can get access to the option of security token offerings. Here, they would be able to specify details such as the end and start date as well as the hard cap they have in their mind.
They can also select the option of which cryptocurrency they want the funds to be raised in, Ether or Polymath itself. When all of these steps are completed, they can go ahead with making their offering go public and for their tokens to be ready for sale.Polymath Review:
However, even when the process tends to be more complicated with translating complex commodities to the blockchain, Polymath helps potential issuers of security tokens by letting them connect with developers on the platform. The developers then make it possible to translate issuers’ real-world securities into code, which is then used to create smart contractson the platform in order to represent securities.
Polymath Review: More Information About the Polymath (POLY) Token
All of these services for token creation as well as legal, development, and accreditation needs are paid through by the usage of the POLY token. This makes POLY a utility token by itself, which is a smart move by the platform, since it frees it from largely relying on Ethers and instead creates a proper use case for the tokens that it created during its own launch.
The ST20 standard in itself has regulatory requirements integrated into it, which means that whenever you are being told that a token is ST20, you can ensure that it has been properly regulated for its intended jurisdiction. Once again, the idea is similar to how ERC20 tokens are synonymous with system stability and their ability to be utilized through a number of wallets and devices.
For instance, if a new token that you bought from an Ethereum-based platform is an ERC20 token, you will know that it is compatible with a specific service instead of having to search its relatively unknown name through the Interwebs. Similarly, when you buy an ST20 token, you can rest assured that it has gone through the preset requirements of regulation before it was presented to you for sale.
How Is This All Beneficial In the Real World?
When you look at the bigger picture and how Polymath affects the world that we live in through its offerings, the benefits become evident for everyone to appreciate.
For once, it creates an outreach to a larger market, as explained in the few examples that were provided above.
In a physical market of conventional equities, stocks, real estate, jewels, gems, and venture investors, the reach for buyers seems to be fairly limited.
Even through the advancements of the internet and the usage of marketplace websites that cater to niche audiences from their respective segments, most of the transactions fall through due to the transfer of funds and the involved property, whether it is physical or not. The distance sometimes makes it impossible for a deal to go through without months of legal and vetting work being put into it.
Since the legal and vetting processes are already taken care of by Polymath’s extensive infrastructure, this cuts the time for new buyers and sellers to actually complete a transaction. A seller would know that the buyer they are selling to is a legitimate entity, just like a buyer would know the same about whom they are buying an asset from.
It also allows people to trade between commodities in real time, with a 24/7 trading mechanism being put into place. Since the platform is self-sufficient, users do not have to preside over it all through tiresome days and sleepless nights just so a deal doesn’t fall through.
Instead, they can leave their market open while resting assured that the smart contracts that have been put into place will do their work effectively. It also allows those delving into security token offerings to have their stocks and their shares available for trading 24 hours a day to verified buyers, which adds another comforting layer to the already promising infrastructure.
The ability to connect with developers, legal providers and other investors during the process of issuing a token paves way for future opportunities as well, since having the support of a global community that would be there for you when you need it the most would allow more innovative thinkers to go through with their ideas without worrying about it not reaching its fruition. With Polymath, a great idea is as good as being executed from the time of its inception, which in itself is a great achievement.
Last but definitely not the least, the ability to hold security tokens that have gone through proper regulations and are identified by respective authorities add to the credibility of cryptocurrencies, which currently face heat from governments and law enforcement mostly due to their unfamiliarity with the platform. This would make Polymath one of those projects that have not only benefited their own end-goal, but also championed the cause of the industry through their solutions.
Polymath Review: The Minds Behind Polymath – Where is the Project Now
Polymath is one of those projects that have been making waves ever since their launch, and that has much to do with the people who have been working behind it.
Founded by Trevor Koverko and Chris Housser, who serve as the project’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer, respectively, the project has an extensive team with each of them being introduced on the website by their name and respective role in the organization. Almost all of them brandish Polymath branding in their pictures, leaving out room for stolen identities.
And with the current development, any doubts that one could have had about the projects have been shunned, the project launched as a properDAppon the Ethereum platform in August 2018. This means that anyone can start creating their tokenswhenever they want.
With the launch, Polymath also announced5 projects that are already on their path to raise over $210 million before December 2018. In addition to this, plans for further and ongoing improvements over the platform were also shared.
Although Polymath is still fairly new to the public, it sports next-generation solutions and a solid framework that supports them.
It is not just a place to create new tokens, but a platform to tokenize assets, and that is what sets it apart from other platforms that only focus on ICOs and the sale of tokens. Through its solutions, Polymath ensures that it provides much-needed solutions to take physical assets into the digital age and that they are safeguarded to the utmost extent while also making their transfer process to be a breeze for their owners.
The solutions are disruptive, they are innovative, and more importantly, they are required. With Polymath’s launch and its next step into the future, it remains to be seen if it keeps up with the hype and becomes the next Ethereum for securities the way that it aspires to be, or goes down in history as just another wannabe hopeful.
Our hope is for the former.
TL;DR Version:
- Polymath allows for assets to be tokenized, ranging from real estate to jewelry to shares and equities.
- It does so through a legal framework process so the tokenization is valid in its respective jurisdiction.
- It uses its Polymath (POLY) token to fuel its network operations, such as paying fees for creating tokens and paying legal and accreditation providers on the network.
- It allows for security token offerings for fundraising, even to conventional businesses that are not based on blockchain.
- It has already launched as a DApp and it is available to the public.
- Polymath matters because it brings about legally compliant way to issue security tokens into the market.