Industry thought leader Brock Pierce has been ahead of the game in numerous blockchain-related ventures. He first become involved with Bitcoin back in 2009, shortly after the groundbreaking network went live. In a recent interview with The FinTech Times, Pierce shared his insight on the future of the blockchain space. 2019 will be a year of significant success for the security token industry, which he says will ultimately transform a quadrillion dollar market.

A new digital exchange will enable investors to trade in companies—including Apple, Facebook, and Tesla—outside of the U.S. even when the stock markets are closed. DX.Exchange, which has offices in Estonia and Israel, will offer digital tokens based on share of 10 Nasdaq-listed companies with plans to expand to the New York Stock Exchange.

Through Oxygen Hospitality Group’s upcoming STO, investors in its hotels will receive shares—represented by tokens—with asset backed security and a level of transparency important for investing in real estate. Infusing technology into all aspects of its business from raising capital for acquisitions to hotel operations is a key focus in Oxygen’s growth.

More and more companies are filing SEC Form D to conduct STOs, a reliable and convenient substitution to traditional IPOs and ICOs. Fundraising via STO is compliant with U.S. laws, thus allowing crypto companies to sell security tokens to big institutional players—something startups weren’t able to do before.

BaseCore is leveraging its own stable coin with the portfolios of private IT companies… The token is made up of two main components. The first is the investor element, which is based on high-yield assets from non-public IT startup assets. The second is the stabilization factor. The value of the underlying asset is used to fix the base redemption price.

In the past months, regulators began cracking down on token sales and exchanges that do not comply with existing securities regulations. While officials have suggested that bitcoin and ETH are not securities, uncertainty still hangs over other digital currencies like XRP.

While some may lament the entry of regulators in 2018, clamping down on ICO projects and putting in place strict frameworks for compliance, these are signs of a market maturing. Speculators aside, industry experts knew the Wild West of Crypto was only a transitionary phase, and the time has come to focus on holistic, sustainable growth with real, tangible benefits.

QuantmRe, which operates a blockchain-based real estate trading platform, announced on Tuesday the launch of the EQRE security token that allows qualified investors to get exposure to fractional equity interests in U.S. residential properties. The diversified pool of fractional interests ensures a high degree of liquidity in this U.S. property asset class, which totals $31.8 trillion.

The decentralized IoT (internet of things) network for next-generation supply-chains Ambrosus has teamed up with global digital shipping marketplace SHIPNEXT to allow its AMB coin to increase its STO. The deal marks an industry-first use case for a digital currency to be accepted as a legitimate contribution in an STO.

No one doubts the market is volatile, and also none of us has a crystal ball. But the cryptocurrency market represents only one case of blockchain technology. Blockchain as a technology, overall, has tremendous implications… It can and will continue to provide value to the world as a software utility involving tokens.

Luxembourg-based fintech company Tokeny has teamed up with Security Token Network to provide end-to-end STO services and foster the industry’s development and mass adoption. The strategic partnership will see Tokeny deliver issuance solutions including token management, deployment, and governance. For its part, Security Token Network will be responsible for the planning, project execution, marketing, and fundraising needed for an STO.

Fidelity Investments revealed at the Block FS conference in New York that it’s looking to expand its institutional cryptocurrency asset platform to now include trading services for the top five to seven cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The platform is expected to be launched next year.

iEstate is the first global platform on the market to issue a security token based on real estate debt and will quickly follow up with with an equity-based token. iEstate uses blockchain to enhance the speed and timing of real estate transactions, and employs smart contracts for optimal transparency.

Securitize, a compliance platform for issuing and managing digitized securities on the blockchain, has raised $12.75 million in funding led by Blockchain Capital with other investors including Coinbase Ventures, Global Brain, NXTP, OK Blockchain Capital, and Xpring. The close of this Series A funding round comes ahead of Securitize’s plans to launch a digital security offering (DSO—another name for STO) in 2019.

Blockchain startup Harbor has officially launched its security token compliance platform and is moving to offer digitized shares in a high-rise building located in South Carolina, an apartment block called The Hub at Columbia. Investors can now register to buy the 955 shares—represented by 955 tokens—available at a cost of $21,000 apiece.

Founder Patrick Byrne is planning to sell Overstock.com and direct his full attention to the blockchain industry. Byrne’s most anticipated project in the blockchain space is the developing security token exchange tZero. The platform raised $134 million during its initial offering and aims to operate under SEC approval within months.

Securitize, a San Francisco-based startup that assists companies with tokenizing assets and traditional securities, has closed a $12.75 million Series A round led by Blockchain Capital, with notable participation from Coinbase Ventures and Ripple’s Xpring Fund. The startup wants to tokenize the $7 trillion securities industry to improve transparency and liquidity.

Security token offerings are clearly the way forward, not just because of regulatory protections but also because solid projects with long-term goals and actual potential don’t shy away from oversight and legal commitments to investors. One such project is Spuul.