Neutral and DLT Finance Launch the First Regulated Trading Platform for Tokenized Environmental Assets

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February 6th, 2024 – New York, New York – Neutral, a technology company building market infrastructure for environmental assets, and DLT Finance, a BaFin-licensed trading and brokerage firm, have partnered to launch the first regulated trading platform for tokenized environmental assets, including carbon and renewable energy credits. 

Financial leaders like Larry Fink and David Solomon are vocal advocates for tokenization of traditional assets. In 2023, the on-chain value of these assets surged by $1.05 billion, mainly in sectors like Treasuries and real estate. The market, currently covering $2.49 billion in value, is expected to cover $10 trillion by 2030. Environmental asset markets are expected to follow this trend with significant interest from sovereign and regional entities for tokenized environmental asset trade. This is underscored by Nasdaq’s recent announcement that they will be transitioning Puro, a leading carbon removal registry, to blockchain infrastructure.

Neutral integrates its pioneering technology with DLT Finance’s regulated services to enable this launch out of Germany. The Neutral trading platform is built for the intricacies of environmental assets markets and provides the necessary supportive services to enable efficient interaction and trade. Users will be able to execute buy and sell orders instantly using standardized trading instruments, select the specific assets they want to redeem or deposit in the instrument, take credits back to their registry account, or retire them directly on the platform. 

The European Union has proven to be a leader in both environmental markets and enabling tokenized trade. The region is home to the largest compliance carbon trading scheme in the world, valued at 750 billion euros in 2022, demonstrating the significant interest in the region for leveraging environmental assets to mitigate climate change. The EU has also recently adopted the Markets in Crypto Legislation (MiCA) in 2023, providing regulatory clarity for tokenized trade and the use of smart contracts. 

"We have ever-increasing interest from institutional clients and market participants to tokenize traditional assets but regulatory frameworks and infrastructure have not kept up with technological progress," says Farouq Ghandour, Co-founder and CEO of Neutral. "With this launch we're combining pioneering technology with a strong regulatory foundation to bring legitimacy, price discovery, and liquidity to the on-chain environmental asset ecosystem. We have a real opportunity to define the future of environmental asset trading, and this is the first step in bringing our vision to life."

Julien Hawle, Head of Regulatory Business Development, adds “Together with Neutral, we are set to change the way tokenized environmental assets like carbon credits are traded and managed. By harnessing the potential of blockchain technology, Neutral’s expertise in environmental assets, and DLT Finance’s ironclad regulatory infrastructure, we envision a future where environmental assets become widely accessible, transparent, and impactful.”

The Neutral trading platform has plans to rapidly increase the number of carbon and renewable energy assets it supports by working with partners that tokenize and curate trading instruments. Neutral is inviting any environmental asset trader, offsetting entity, or marketplace wanting to leverage the platform’s services to get in touch. 

About Neutral

Neutral is a platform for environmental assets with specialized market infrastructure to deliver efficiency, transparency, and trust. The Neutral platform allows users to buy, sell and interact with their tokenized carbon credits, renewable energy credits, and forward contracts.

About DLT Finance

DLT Finance, acting jointly as a BaFin-licensed investment firm (DLT Securities GmbH) and a crypto-asset custodian (DLT Custody GmbH), provides infrastructure for businesses and institutions to embed compliant digital asset brokerage and custody into their offerings. Regulatory compliance, comprehensive trade execution, and a battle-tested security infrastructure are at the core of DLT Finance’s building blocks.

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