Green-X, which runs a Shariah compliant ESG digital asset exchange, is aiming to launch 10–15 tokenized offerings by the end of this year.
Chief Exchange Officer Philip Tam told IFN Investor this target is achievable and also necessary to boost trading liquidity in this new investment market. “You need to have a certain size to attract people,” he explained, using a supermarket simile where a variety of products need to be on offer.
Philip said the three recent token launches had shown potential clients that Green-X could deliver and he outlined a pipeline already in progress for this intermediate platform to help companies raise some money — ahead of becoming more established over another year or two, then proceeding with an IPO.
Following the business consolidation with CryptoSX in March 2023, Green-X now hosts issuers with an advanced battery technology patent (2UT), refined Chinese ceramics tokenization (TS1) and a gold deposits-backed token (DIGau).
The next security token offering (STO) is to be the largest gemstones collection in Southeast Asia. These real-world assets (RWA) — whether sapphire, rubies, emeralds or diamonds — each have a Gemological Research Association report to certify their intrinsic values. Philip said the initial tokenized listing is around US$20 million.
The subsequent listing of around US$50–100 million involves rare earth elements from mines in Malaysia and Indonesia — providing an alternate source from China, which currently supplies about 90% of this commodity’s global market.
Also in progress is a project in cooperation with the Chinese government for advertising in elevators, which Philip said number around 11 million. Drawing parallels to another similar outfit called Focus Media, which handled only elevators in commercial buildings, he said this project focuses on communities.
Philip declined to disclose more about a fine arts project for a painting in Japan, which he described as a possible game-changer for tokenized offerings.
Further down the pipeline are three green sustainable technology projects from Indonesia — with one based on electromagnets used to generate electricity. “Once you start up the magnet, it will go on forever.”
With scheduled downtime every year or so for maintenance, Philip personally saw how this system generates electricity by itself. “I don’t like air tokens; I do not like to sell a business that has no substance or just a roadmap.” He noted this technology already comes in different sizes of 12,000 kW, 24,000 kW and even higher outputs.
Also in the pipeline is a project to turn waste engine oil from cars and trucks using water and a catalyst to produce green diesel, with a yield of over 90%. Others involve creating pure drinking water from air and Chinese antiques.
Then, in cooperation with Bursa Malaysia, Green-X is eyeing the launch of tokenized carbon credit for smaller investors. Unlike OTC market trades pitched to big industry boys, Philip said the Green-X platform trading of tokenized carbon credits will be for small players like farms and SMEs, and even the average person keen to contribute to helping Earth’s environment.
With such diverse offerings ahead, Philip said some clients are looking to use their tokens as a medium of settlement or to reward suppliers who provide discounts — as these units have the potential to appreciate in value.
Philip described this potential as a bonus for clients, who already undergo a robust vetting to be on the Green-X platform — with the process akin to being in a listing incubator.
“When you come to us for [an] STO, you are actually preparing yourself for an IPO because the frame and the steps are the same. It’s just that for [an] IPO, there is a lot more information or detail required, something in the region of US$2 million in IPO legal fees.”
Compared to an IPO, Philip said the STO approval cost would be less than 10% and the process can be as short as 10 weeks if there is already a fairly detailed business plan plus a financial projection for the next five years prepared by a qualified accountant.
Asked why Green-X chose to be Shariah compliant, Philip said its ESG focus was well aligned with Muslim principles. He further noted how this extended the potential investor base to an estimated 1.9 billion Muslims around the globe, in addition to Green-X’s main market of around 1.5 billion residents in China.
The Green-X tokenization process is equity-based because this creates what it considers to be the right structure to put the RWA into a corporate entity, with the shares then tokenized. “The shareholder registry is on a blockchain, which effectively gives the investor the same as a company shareholder’s rights. This is our approach at Green-X … we are tokenizing a real-world instrument so that it will survive and flourish.”
