BTG Pactual Issues ReitBZ on Tezos Blockchain

The Tezos issuance marks the first non-Ethereum issuance from Latin America's largest investment bank since announcing its move into digital assets

News provided by

BTG Pactual

May 19, 2020, 09:00 ET

SAO PAULO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Latin America's largest standalone investment bank, announced today that it has officially issued its ReitBZ token on the Tezos blockchain, successfully executing on the firm's July announcement to utilize Tezos for future Security Token Offerings (STOs). This marks the first non-Ethereum issuance of ReitBZ, a digital security backed by Brazilian real estate, which was initially issued on the Ethereum network in May 2019.

Since issuance, ReitBZ has been utilized to acquire 238 real estate units in August 2019 and an additional 85 real estate units in December 2019. 181 of these units have been sold so far, with the first distribution of profit dividends scheduled for May 2020. BTG Pactual expects to launch a secondary market for ReitBZ in coming months to provide further liquidity to the digital securities.

BTG Pactual was the first major investment bank to officially launch an STO, announcing its plans for ReitBZ in February 2019. It has since successfully launched and exceeded the soft cap of the real estate backed token on the Ethereum protocol.

"We decided to issue ReitBZ in partnership with the Tezos Foundation to test the Tezos blockchain so that we can use the technology to execute more complex future STOs. We are confident that the Tezos solution is technically robust, and this issuance enables us to guarantee more resources to invest in ReitBZ moving forward," said Andre Portilho, BTG's Partner responsible for the STO initiative.

"BTG Pactual has been a pioneer in implementing blockchain solutions to tokenize the assets it manages," said Hubertus Thonhauser, Chairman of the Tezos Foundation Council. "We are thrilled that the firm has chosen to use the Tezos protocol to make this implementation a reality and look forward to BTG's continued use of Tezos' cutting-edge technology as it pushes the asset tokenization market towards mass adoption."

About Tezos - Tezos is a decentralized, public blockchain that evolves by upgrading itself. Stakeholders of the Tezos network vote on amendments to the protocol to reach social consensus on proposals, creating a secure and organic upgrading mechanism. The protocol's on-chain governance system, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, and ability to facilitate formal verification of smart contracts, make Tezos an ideal long-term solution for high-value financial applications such as digital securities. Tezos is fully decentralized and it is the role of the Tezos Foundation, a Swiss non-profit to support the development and long-term success of the protocol and ecosystem. For more information, visit: tezos.com.

About BTG Pactual - BTG Pactual is the largest investment bank from Latin America, and is active in Investment Banking, Corporate Lending, Sales & Trading, Wealth Management and Asset Management. Since its inception in 1983, it has been run based on a meritocratic partnership culture, focused on the client, excellent services and a long-term view. The Bank has cemented its status as one of the most innovative sector players and has received multiple national and international awards. It has just under 3k employees working in offices in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, US, Portugal and England. For more information, visit http:// www.btgpactual.com