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San Francisco-based security token startup Harbor has become an SEC-registered transfer agent, the company announced in a press release dated Oct. 31.
The company secured the transfer agent license one month after it received a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), CoinDesk reported. This makes Harbor the first blockchain company to have secured both licenses.
In its press release, Harbor said that the transfer agent license will expand the scope of its digital securities offerings, including Regulation A fundraising for alternative assets such as private equity and venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, private debt, hedge funds, etc.
“Digital securities are transforming access and liquidity for alternative assets. To get there, companies need solutions to compliantly manage the investment lifecycle, which includes working with licensed broker-dealers and registered transfer agents,” Josh Stein, Harbor CEO, said.
“Harbor provides these services along with a common technology platform that integrates compliance and custody and enables the traditional private capital ecosystem of issuers, broker-dealers and placement agents.”
Stein told CoinDesk that it took the firm over a year to get the appropriate licenses. “It took the regulators a long time to get a handle on the space and understand it and its implications. This was very new for the SEC and FINRA, and they wanted to do it right,” he said.
In September, Harbor tokenized the shares of iCap Equity’s four real estate funds using the ethereum blockchain.
Harbor is backed by a roster of prominent names in the industry including Andreessen Horowitz, Pantera Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and others. It has raised more than $40 million in funding to date.
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