Placement
The placement process is about placing the tokens either with institutional investors or with retail investors.
The processes for institutional and retail placement are quite different. When going down the institutional route we will work with our client to create the supporting marketing material, in particular an investor presentation, and organise an actual or virtual roadshow -- all very much in line how a traditional investment bank would support their client in a traditional securities offering.
When going down the retail route the process follows closely what would happen in a traditional IPO: there will be some infrastructure in place to register interest, and there will be the necessary KYC and eligibility checks for all potential investors. Depending on whether the offering follows a book building or a continuous issuance process there will either be a book building phase followed by an allocation phase, or potential investors that have passed the on-boarding process will be able to invest, subject to individual limits and until the maximum issuance amount is reached.
In some case our clients might opt for an open ended issuance process where investors can purchase tokens without there being an explicit time limit. This form of issuance is less suited for corporate tokens (debt, equity, participating), but it is the preferred process for open ended investment funds where the token proceeds are used to purchase assets on the market.
Especially for retail issuance there might be an associated marketing campaign, covering multiple channels (social, content-driven, broadcast, print etc). If there is a campaign we can support our clients both on the appropriate messaging, and to ensure that marketing conforms to the applicable regulations.