TBW - Lise to execute the world’s first on-chain IPO
This is a world first. French exchange Lise is preparing to carry out the first-ever initial public offering on a natively tokenised infrastructure.
Scheduled for 9 April, the transaction involves ST Group, an industrial SME in the aerospace and defence sector based near Toulouse, which is targeting a raise of “several million”.
Five months after obtaining authorisation from France’s ACPR, Lise is opening subscriptions on 2 April. The platform combines, on a single blockchain infrastructure, the functions of a multilateral trading facility (MTF) and a central securities depository (CSD).
“This is the culmination of four to five years of development,” Mark Kepeneghian, Lise’s CEO, told The Big Whale. “For the first time in the world, a company will go public on a natively tokenised infrastructure. And it is happening in France, on a regulated platform.”
>> Mark Kepeneghian (Lise): “Delivering the first on-chain IPO in the first half”
A defence-focused SME to inaugurate the exchange
ST Group designs and manufactures high-performance composite parts for aerospace, defence and space applications. Based in the heart of the Aerospace Valley cluster, the company supports major programmes for Airbus and Dassault Aviation.
“ST Group would never have done an IPO on a traditional market. It is too heavy and too expensive for an SME,” Kepeneghian says. “For once, we are bringing an equity solution to a French industrial SME. Blockchain technology is the real answer to the structural financing problem for SMEs.”
In practice, investors can register on Lise’s platform, wire funds that are converted directly into “tokenised deposits”, and participate in the IPO with one click. The minimum ticket is a single share, with a subdivided par value to keep it accessible. There are no subscription or custody fees on the primary issuance.
“There is an investment bank, funds and institutional investors. This is a genuine IPO process, not crowdfunding,” Kepeneghian stresses.
Ahead of Securitize and SDX
Lise is not operating in a vacuum, but no competitor has yet crossed the on-chain IPO threshold. In the US, Securitize has established itself as a tokenisation leader, with more than $4bn of tokenised assets and partnerships with BlackRock, Apollo and KKR.
The platform supported Exodus, which became, in late 2024, the first listed company to issue shares on-chain, and is preparing its own public listing via a $1.25bn SPAC. But Securitize remains a transfer agent and an infrastructure operator, not an exchange.
In Switzerland, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) has been licensed by FINMA since late 2021 to operate an exchange and a CSD on DLT rails. SDX has completed several tokenised bond issues and partnered with Citi to tokenise pre-IPO shares. Still, no IPO has been conducted on its infrastructure.
“We are delivering the IPO, which is the hardest part, before other European players have even launched simpler products,” Kepeneghian notes.
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Sovereignty and pipeline
The deal comes as Nasdaq, the DTCC and several major US banks accelerate their tokenisation initiatives. “When Nasdaq says tokenisation is the future of market infrastructure, the debate is over. And it gives us tremendous credibility,” Kepeneghian says.
But the bigger issue, in their view, is sovereignty. “In a world where Europe misses every technological revolution, we are, for once, first. The world’s first tokenised IPO is happening in France.”
With shareholders including CACEIS (Crédit Agricole), BNP Paribas and Bpifrance, Lise already has three to four additional IPOs in its pipeline. The message is clear. In the global race to tokenise capital markets, France has just scored a point.
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