Vertalo’s Dave Hendricks Set to Deliver World’s First Live Tokenization Demo

Vertalo’s Dave Hendricks is set to deliver the first ever live tokenization event. You can watch the event live by signing up right here:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7qHUDSylRxiO5SyC2qSFSg

Q: What is the significance of the first-ever live tokenization event?

Hendricks: To date, the process of ‘Tokenization’ has been this prohibitively expensive and technically mysterious event that’s been preceded by an onerous accreditation and KYC/AML process, all aided by tinker-toy Google Typeform interfaces.  Investors who were interested in taking part in security token issuances would have to run this horrendous qualification gauntlet, with the required presentation of a Metamask wallet – perhaps the worst ever investor interface – creating one of highest friction user experiences ever created.  We wanted to help issuers and investors understand that this isn’t the way things need to work in the world of digital assets.

So showing that there can actually be usable interfaces, that the beginning of an investor experience doesn’t need to start with an interrogation session, and that the time (and cost) of tokenization could require less than 3 months and $100,000– that’s a big part of why demonstrating this in real time and creating a tradable, digital asset live is a meaningful event in our industry.

Q: What does this demo illustrate about the progress of the industry?

Hendricks: This demo shows that barriers to tokenization – wallets and tokens, primarily – are not what digital assets are all about.  The first thing that the Vertalo demo will illustrate is that you can take an existing company and tokenize it in minutes- it shows that tokenization isn’t just for raising capital.

The second thing we show is that this process doesn’t need to alienate potential shareholders or current investors, and that they can view their holdings without having a PhD in metamask or remembering complicated ‘passphrases’. This demo mainly illustrates that tokenization technology is an enabler of direct ownership and direct listing, and not an end in itself.

Q: Why did you collaborate?

Hendricks: Wave Financial is a close partner of Vertalo and is working with us to tokenize two offerings now, with another 10-12 in the pipeline.  As a fund that is creating products, we want to have the client perspective represented in the demo, and offer Ben from Wave an opportunity to comment on his use of the platform.  Like all Vertalo partners and clients, Wave helps Vertalo identify key requirements that can benefit the security ecosystem beyond what has been built and will be built.  Ben is practically a member of our product team, and we welcome other clients and partners to join us in building the best tools, technologies, and connections to enable this market to gain critical adoption and momentum.

Q: What other exciting things does Vertalo have coming up beyond the tokenization event?

Hendricks: The most exciting next step for Vertalo is the ongoing addition of more partners and clients like Wave. Wave is a fund manager and they’ll be creating many interesting digital products with Vertalo over the coming years.  We are currently working with other partners on similar initiatives within Real Estate that are going to open up the private asset markets in ways that haven’t happened since the commercial adoption of email and the internet.  

The process and product improvements that we are able to engineer with partners like Wave are not a one-off, it’s Vertalo’s operating and development model.  While today this approach requires more input from our earliest clients, Wave and the clients that come after them all benefit because we aren’t building our platform in a vacuum.