Symbol blockchain to host whisky fund and central bank collectibles at launch

Proof-of-stake blockchain NEM (XEM) is preparing for a token migration in December alongside the public launch of the Symbol (XYM) blockchain.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, NEM Group CIO and NEM Ventures managing director, Dave Hodgson, revealed that Symbol will host at least two products at launch.

Symbol will host the Wave Financial Whiskey Fund, which offers a tokenized representation of ownership in 25,000 barrels of 2020-vintage bourbon worth more than $4 million. The platform will also host LBCOIN, collectible crypto assets that commemorate Lithuania’s 1918 declaration of independence issued by the country’s central bank. Both products were previously hosted on NEM.

Hodgson highlighted the benefits that fractionalization will offer traditional asset classes, noting that Wave’s whiskey fund will offer investors exposure to an asset class that would traditionally be very hard to access “if you couldn’t afford to go and buy 4,000 barrels of whiskey. 

The executive also predicted that fractional ownership will offer investors in emerging markets like Africa and South-East Asia greater access to equities products, highlighting the efficiency saving blockchain offers to the sector:

“[Equities] are ripe for disruption, the current model is too siloed and the mechanisms by which equities are transferred is too slow and too expensive.”

Hodgson described Symbol as a hybrid blockchain built for enterprises with a focus on interoperability and security tokens.

Symbol can be deployed as either a public or private chain, offering enterprises guarantees that sensitive proprietary information will not be broadcast across an open blockchain network.

The blockchain facilitates cross-chain swaps between the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains, with plans to support additional networks in the future. Hodgson emphasized the importance of cross-chain interoperability among institutions, noting expectations that the future will bring a crypto ecosystem comprising multiple specialized blockchains operating in symbiosis.

XEM holders can convert their tokens into XYM at a 1:1 ratio in December, however, they must opt-in for the snapshot beforehand.