Business leaders and financial institutions were invited to the South African launch of ‘BANKEX’, a decentralised Bank-as-a-Service model of enterprise (BaaS) which has garnered significant attention from private and institutional investors globally.
This BANKEX model is held by BKX company. The introduction of this cryptocurrency was hosted by the BANKEX international team members at various venues across the country.
A Top 50 FinTech company which has been ranked as one of the ‘top 10 most anticipated Token Sales (‘ICO’ or initial coin offering) in the world’ by Entrepreneur Magazine, BANKEX is currently engaging with potential investors regarding their current business projects and future global developments. The BANKEX token sale – which is running from 28 November 2017 for public sale with 280 000 reserved for institutional investors at a token price of around 500 BKX worth 1 ETH. An impressive 20+ million USD was raised within the first day of ICO with more than 25+ million USD brought in since.
“There has been overwhelming interest since the token sale went live in November and we’re excited about the prospects this financial innovation offers South Africa,” said Igor Khmel, CEO at BANKEX. “We have ensured that all resources acquired during our token sale will be used to bring about success for all stakeholders involved. This success is further underscored by our mission to remain transparent and fully resourced, constantly expanding our team of world-class employees.”
Khmel, who heads up the dynamic team, holds two degrees from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science as well as being an Honours Graduate from Stanford Business School. He has extensive experience in the financial sector, having worked at top institutions including McKinsey & Company, Citadel LLC and Deloitte. Khmel also created and headed up the Innovation Lab at Sberbank – one of the top banks worldwide.
He, and his equally qualified team, works with only top-level advisors, including Gabriele Columbro, Executive Director of Silicone Valley-based Symphony Software Foundation; Griffin Anderson, Founder of Balance3, a ConsenSys formation; Sergey Sergienko, Founder and CEO of Chronobank Nehemiah Kramer, one of the initial investors in Ethereum; Chris Skinner, Chairman of the Financial Services Club and Makoto Takemiya, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Soramitsu, among others.
Another aspect which sets BANKEX apart is the innovative Proof-of-Asset (POA) Protocol, the world’s first Plasma-like Protocol. Powered by blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and based on the principles of BaaS, this POA Protocol allows investors and non-public organisations to securely digitize real assets by listing them on the BANKEX asset exchange in token form. Once entered into the BANKEX ecosystem, the information will be thoroughly analysed to ensure it is accurate, verified by respective 3rd parties and then included in a smart contract on the blockchain as a token that can be either securities, tokens or coins. On BANKEX’s asset exchange platform, the token can then be bought and sold by any interested party. This financial ecosystem allows BANKEX to offer innovative fintech products and services within the finance and investment sectors, micro-financing and real estate with access to historically illiquid assets, natural resources, and future markets.
The BANKEX team has already engaged with a number of financial institutions and family offices in South Africa who see the immense opportunity the Proof of Asset Protocol presents, including SME financing.
This level of technological advancement, backed by a dedicated team with exceptional industry know-how, has garnered the support of nine banks with an overall capitalisation of 431 billion USD. BANKEX has already secured MovieCoin LLC, led by film financier Christopher Woodrow, as its first institutional asset client, with a target of raising 100 million USD in 2018 to produce a portfolio of movie projects. BANKEX has also secured a major Hong Kong-based financial institution for the tokenization of real estate financing. Further entrenching its credibility in the financial sector, BANKEX has become a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), a non-profit alliance dedicated to supporting and promoting technologies and standards based on Ethereum. Other EEA members include JP Morgan, UBS, MasterCard, Microsoft and Intel.
“Through the highly innovative Proof of Asset Protocol, BANKEX is offering investors the opportunity to enhance their investment portfolios and up-scale their business,” explained Khmel. “BANKEX is building an operating system for decentralised capital markets with the ultimate goal to enable new types of asset classes for investors. By using smart contracts to trade tokenized assets, BANKEX is creating advanced solutions for all business models, from sole entrepreneurship to multinational corporations, allowing for the realisation of dreams as well as the ability to earn large profits in the process.”
