Russian Metal Giant's Tokenization Firm Expands to America

Oct 16, 2020 at 17:52 UTCUpdated Oct 16, 2020 at 18:01 UTC.Atomyze, a tokenization startup by Russian mining and smelting giant Nornickel, is setting up shop in Greenwich, Conn., to sell tokenized metals in the U.S.The company, whose legal name is Atomyze LLC, will become the second foothold for Nornickel's tokenization ambitions.

Atomyze does not currently have a presence in Russia.

Second, people interested in investing in the metal industry might use the tokens to bet on the prices of metals such as palladium, copper or nickel, instead of buying stock in companies like Nornickel.

Nornickel did not respond to questions as to why the U.S. and Switzerland will be the first two markets for Atomyze by press time.

At least in the initial phase, these tokens will not be interchangeable, said Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto, CEO of Atomyze LLC. She added that "Atomyze LLC was created with the vision of building the products that will be familiar and common for the U.S. market."

Along with Hightower-Sellitto, Atomyze now has a few professionals who came from notable crypto and blockchain companies.

They include Corey Wendling, former senior vice president of Paxos; Jan Hendrik Scheufen, former chief product officer of the Scotland-based blockchain firm Monax; and Lyon Hardgrave, who used to lead the blockchain oil trading startup Vakt.Wendling told CoinDesk via a spokesperson he was attracted to Atomyze's ambition to "Disrupt and change the way commodities are traded by allowing customers to bring their own smart contracts and tokens to our platform."

The name of the vault provider is not public, nor are the names of the banks to be involved with Atomyze LLC.The contents of the vault will be audited by U.S.-based auditors to make sure the tokens are backed by the actual metals on a 1:1 basis, Hightower-Sellitto said.

The tokens, which will be tradeable on Atomyze's own platform, will not qualify as securities, Hightower-Sellitto said, and the company hasn't had any communications with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about them.

Swiss-based Tokentrust's board includes Alexander Stoyanov, the managing director of Nornickel's subsidiary Global Palladium Fund.Global Palladium Fund will be the first issuer on Atomyze, Hightower-Sellitto said, but in the future the platform can also become a marketplace for other asset-backed tokens and more issuers might want to use it.