France has officially approved the Lightning Stock Exchange (Lise), the nation’s first fully tokenized equity exchange, indicating a major shift in how public markets and IPOs could function in the digital era.
Lise has secured a DLT TSS license from the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime, a regulatory sandbox allowing blockchain-based financial infrastructures to operate within traditional legal frameworks.
The milestone, achieved in coordination with the Banque de France, ESMA, AMF, and the European Central Bank, positions Lise as the first French market infrastructure to merge the roles of a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) and a Central Securities Depository (CSD) on a single distributed ledger.
This integration allows trading and post-trading operations to occur instantly, eliminating settlement delays, reducing counterparty risk, and potentially allowing 24/7 trading, something unprecedented in European capital markets.
Lise Open Tokenized IPO Path for Small and Mid-Cap Firms
Lise seeks to open the public markets to small and mid-cap enterprises (SMEs and midcaps) that have traditionally faced barriers to going public.
“This is a true breakthrough for capital markets,” said Mark Kepeneghian, CEO of Lise.
Backed by major institutions including BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, and CACEIS, Lise is a subsidiary of Kriptown, a French fintech that has long described itself as a “neo-exchange” for startups and growing firms.
Analysts say Lise’s approval could make France a European leader in tokenized securities, setting the stage for a future where IPOs, equity trading, and investor participation happen entirely on-chain.
Additionally, the exchange plans to host its first IPOs in early 2026, setting the stage for a new model of digital public offerings that merge traditional finance with blockchain efficiency.
The launch arrives amid a broader wave of tokenization in global finance. Data from RWA.xyz shows that real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has surged past $33.9 billion, up over 10% in the past month.
Private credit leads the sector with $17.5 billion, followed by U.S. Treasury debt at $8.3 billion and commodities at $2.8 billion, boosted by strong growth in tokenized gold markets.
Source: RWA.xyzEthereum dominates the RWA space, hosting $12.1 billion in tokenized assets, about 57.5% of the market, compared to $686 million on Solana, which is growing quickly but still far behind.
The rising adoption of tokenized assets reflects growing institutional interest, particularly as traditional financial players seek to modernize infrastructure.
Can Lise’s Tokenized Exchange Rewrite How Europe Does IPOs?
Lise’s model seeks to integrate trading and settlement within a unified blockchain system. Transactions occur instantly, bypassing the traditional multi-day clearing and settlement process.
For issuers, especially small and mid-sized enterprises, this structure drastically lowers the costs of going public and simplifies shareholder management, dividend distribution, and governance.
The platform also allows retail and institutional investors to invest directly in European businesses, both during IPOs and in the secondary market.
By combining regulated market oversight with blockchain efficiency, Lise hopes to make investing in the real economy more transparent, liquid, and continuous.
For decades, IPOs have relied on intermediaries such as underwriters and investment banks to handle risk assessment, pricing, and distribution.
Source: The European Securities and Markets AuthorityThese processes are often expensive and time-consuming. Lise’s model seeks to “rewrite how IPOs work” by removing many of those barriers, replacing legacy systems with blockchain technology that supports instant issuance, settlement, and custody.
The platform’s DLT foundation also aligns with the European Union’s DLT Pilot Regime, which took effect in March 2023. The regime provides a legal framework for trading and settlement of financial instruments using blockchain technology under MiFID II rules.
Lise’s Approval Adds to Global Push for Tokenized Markets
Lise’s licensing follows a broader wave of traditional financial exchanges experimenting with tokenization.
In September, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) launched its Digital Markets Infrastructure (DMI), a blockchain-based platform developed with Microsoft, to support tokenized fund issuance and settlement.
Around the same time, Nasdaq submitted a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking approval to trade tokenized versions of stocks under equivalent regulatory protections as traditional equities.
Meanwhile, crypto firms such as Robinhood, Kraken, and Gemini have already begun offering tokenized stock trading in Europe, while others, including Coinbase and Dinari, are pursuing U.S. regulatory clearance.
The retail-focused tokenized stock market has grown rapidly, reaching $412 million in value, up from just a few million last year.
However, regulators remain cautious. The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) recently urged global watchdogs, including the SEC and ESMA, to tighten oversight on tokenized equities, warning that many of these instruments lack shareholder rights or proper safeguards.
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