London Stock Exchange Goes On-Chain With First Fundraise Live on New Blockchain Platform

Core Insights - The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) launched a new distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform called Digital Markets Infrastructure (DMI) for private funds on September 15, 2023, with MCM Fund 1 being the first fund tokenized on this platform [1][6]. Group 1: Tokenization Development - LSEG has been exploring tokenization since at least 2017, with initial tests conducted in collaboration with IBM to create a blockchain-based platform for issuing private shares of small- and medium-sized businesses [2]. - The company has continued to invest in tokenization, including a partnership with Microsoft in 2022 to support DLT development, and announced plans for a blockchain-based venue in September 2023 [3]. Group 2: Platform Features and Future Plans - The DMI platform is designed to provide blockchain-powered efficiencies for the entire asset lifecycle, including issuance, tokenization, distribution, and post-trade asset settlement [4]. - Currently, DMI is focused on private funds, but LSEG intends to expand the platform to include other asset classes in the future [4][6]. Group 3: Initial Fund Issuance - Members Capital Management (MembersCap) is the first firm to issue tokenized securities on the DMI platform, launching MCM Fund 1 using Archax's multi-chain tokenization engine [5]. - Archax has been integrated into the DMI platform and serves as a nominee for a significant web-3 foundation involved in the issuance [7]. Group 4: Technical Aspects - The DMI platform operates on a private, permissioned ledger hosted on Microsoft Azure, although specific technical details and the protocol used have not been disclosed [8].