CACEIS, the asset servicing arm of Crédit Agricole, has acquired a minority stake in French fintech Kriptown to support the launch of Lise, Europe's first tokenized exchange dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises.
The investment marks a strategic milestone for Kriptown and its subsidiary Lise (Lightning Stock Exchange), which is developing blockchain-based market infrastructure designed to simplify equity financing and public listings for SMEs and mid-cap companies.
Lise has applied for approval as a DLT Trading and Settlement System under the European pilot regime, which would permit the use of distributed ledger technology for issuing, trading, and settling financial instruments on the blockchain. The platform aims to make capital markets more accessible to companies in sectors like energy, industry, infrastructure, and defense.
For investors, Lise promises a continuous secondary market operating 24/7, eliminating the bottlenecks associated with traditional clearing houses and the lengthy coordination of multiple intermediaries. The blockchain-based approach could significantly reduce the time and costs associated with conventional IPO processes.
CACEIS's backing reinforces Kriptown's governance structure and enhances the project's credibility among stakeholders as it advances this innovative initiative. The investment aligns with CACEIS's long-term digital assets strategy, which the company has been pursuing for several years to support the transformation of market infrastructure.
The commitment was recently reinforced when CACEIS received MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulatory approval, reflecting the group's belief that technological innovation and regulation must advance in tandem.
Founded in 2018, Kriptown specializes in asset tokenization and has developed proprietary technology that enables the tokenization of financial instruments while integrating market and post-trade functions within a single, streamlined infrastructure. The company is registered with France's Autorité des marchés financiers as a digital asset service provider.
Kriptown now counts CACEIS, BNP Paribas, and Bpifrance among its shareholders. Pending regulatory approval, Lise's first IPO is planned for 2025, potentially opening new pathways for SMEs to access capital markets through blockchain technology.