Caceis, the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole for asset managers and institutional investors, on 4 August that it had acquired a minority stake in the French fintech Kriptown. Founded by four partners in 2017, Kriptown is a neo-exchange for startups and SMEs and specialises in asset tokenisation. Asset tokenisation is the process of creating a digital representation of a real thing (such as equities or bonds, for example) on a blockchain. The fintech is registered with France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) as a digital asset service provider. Kriptown now counts Caceis, BNP Paribas and Bpifrance as shareholders.
The investment coincides with the upcoming launch of Kriptown’s subsidiary the Lightning Stock Exchange (Lise), said a press release, “which will be the first European tokenised exchange dedicated to SMEs and mid-cap companies.” Lise is developing a market infrastructure designed that aims to simplify equity financing and listings for SMEs. The company’s goal is to make capital markets more accessible to companies in sectors like energy, industry, infrastructure and defence, while offering investors a continuous secondary market available 24/7. It “has applied for approval as a DLT Trading and Settlement System (DLT TSS) under the European pilot regime,” added the communiqué, “which permits the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for issuing, trading and settling financial instruments on the blockchain.” Pending approval, the first IPO is planned for 2025.
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“Caceis’s backing marks a strategic milestone for Lise’s parent company, reinforcing its governance and enhancing the project’s credibility among stakeholders,” said the press release. For the banking group, on the other hand, the investment aligns with its long-term digital assets strategy. Caceis at the end of June under the Markets in crypto-assets (Mica) regulation.
Caceis--which has offices across Europe (including in Luxembourg), North America, South America and Asia--offers services covering execution, clearing, forex, securities lending, custody, depositary, fund administration, fund distribution support, middle-office outsourcing and issuer services. The group holds €5.3trn in assets under custody and €3.4trn in assets under administration (as of 31 December 2024).