Israel’s Stock Exchange to Launch Blockchain-Based Crypto Exchange

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) – Israel’s sole equity and debt marketplace – now plans to establish a blockchain and digital asset-based trading platform.

The exchange will focus on the development of distributed ledger and smart contract technologies while creating various types of tokenized digital assets. 

Focusing on Future Tech

Tel Aviv’s blockchain-related plans were detailed within its 2023 to 2027 strategy document published on Monday. Among the four strategic goals listed, one was to  “establish a platform for digital assets based on blockchain (DLT),” and to “enter the crypto world”.

“We see in the next five years a critical window of opportunity for the integration of the Israeli Stock Exchange in the technological revolution that the world’s capital markets are going through,” wrote CEO Itai Ben-Zeev in the document. 

Ben-Zeev added that the exchange will use its “domestic advantage” in Israel to help further the development and adoption of fintech. Among its many considerations, it may start to move some of its existing technological infrastructures in the direction of blockchain and “innovative technologies,” while launching other digital asset products. 

This isn’t a new concept. More jurisdictions worldwide are looking into improving existing markets infrastructure with blockchain technology. The European Union, for instance, has already approved a pilot for blockchain-based securities trading, much like Tel-Aviv announced on Monday. 

Franklin CEO Jenny Johnson also praised blockchain technology in August as something that could revolutionize her entire industry, driving down costs through the use of smart contracts. “It’s also more secure from a cyber standpoint because of the distributed nature of it,” she said.

 Israel Open to Crypto

Crypto-related business is slowly starting to bloom within Israeli borders.

In March, Israel’s largest bank – Leumi – partnered with Paxos to start providing Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services. A leading Israeli VC firm launched a Web 3 fund in June, and in September, the country’s regulator of capital markets granted Bits of Gold – a local crypto exchange – the crypto industry’s first capital markets license. 

Now, the TASE is working with the Ministry of Finance to potentially issue a digital state bond. Units of the bond will be issued to the electronic wallets of test participants and paid out in digital currency.