Progmat and ALTERNA strengthen their collaboration - Mitsui & Co. Digital AM provides security tokens seamlessly with the establishment of the "Alterna Trust" | CoinDesk JAPAN

Mitsui & Co. Digital Asset Management (MDM) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank have jointly established a new company, "Alterna Trust Co., Ltd.", specializing in digital securities (security tokens/digital securities, hereinafter referred to as ST). Operations began on July 3.

▶Related Articles: Mitsui & Co. Digital AM and Mitsui Sumitomo Trust jointly established a new company "Alterna Trust" specializing in digital securities.

On the same day, following the establishment of the new company, Mitsui & Co. Digital Asset Management, Alterna Trust, and Progmat announced a release entitled "Establishment of a new trust company specialized in digital securities, 'Alterna Trust Co., Ltd.' and deepening collaboration between 'Progmat' and 'ALTERNA'".

MDM stated that it has established a system that can provide a seamless service for the acquisition, management, custody, and sale of ST under its asset management service "ALTERNA" in collaboration with the Alternative Trust.

Additionally, in building this system, Progmat has provided the digital asset issuance and management platform "Progmat SaaS" to MDM and alternative trusts.

Improving Product Development Speed

Progmat, which aims for a neutral position in the ST industry, originally started as a foundation provided by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust. The strengthening of collaboration with MDM, a Mitsui & Co. group company, may appear strange from outside the ST industry.

However, according to the release, "Progmat and MDM began their collaboration with the public offering real estate ST project, the first issued as MDM in December 2021, and in May 2023, jointly announced a new business model of 'integrated digital securities manufacturing and sales' through the collaboration of 'Progmat' and 'ALTERNA', deepening their partnership."

The representative director, Founder & CEO Tatsuya Saito of Progmat also noted on his own note that MDM issues/manages "70% of structured deals and 75% of deals sold through its own channel 'ALTERNA' on Progmat."

In the issuance of real estate STs, the management and fiduciary duties of the underlying assets by trust banks/trust companies have become almost the default, and MDM has been developing its business in collaboration with external trust banks. In the future, by having an "Alternative Trust" specializing in STs within its own group, it aims to establish a system that can provide STs in a seamless manner and "enhance the speed of further product development."

〈From the release〉Regarding the strengthening of collaboration with Progmat, it is stated in the release that "the alternative trust is equipped with necessary functions such as ledger management as a trustee, and to complete the ST management of investors that MDM has entrusted to external trust banks in-house."

The security token market has seen significant growth since its launch in 2021, continuing to expand in 2022 and 2023, but it stagnated in 2024 as the movement to assess the trends in tax reform spread. With a clearer outlook on tax reform, it is expected that in the fiscal year 2025, not only will the issuance amount expand, but there will also be progress in the diversification of underlying assets.