New York-based fintech acquires Delaware Board of Trade

Ideanomics announced that it has acquired an additional 71.7 percent ownership in Delaware Board of Trade Holdings ("DBOT"), making Ideanomics the largest shareholder with 98.4 percent . This acquisition, valued at over USD 18 million, signifies that Ideanomics is ready to bridge capital markets, advisory for digital offerings, and better transparency for a range of industry stakeholders.

"We are in the early stages of a transformation in the global debt markets. Companies in all points of their lifecycle; seed, growth, and maturing revenue, are seeking to raise debt capital in a regulatory compliant manner to provide capital for growth and liquidity. DBOT is well positioned to provide the platform and advisory services for those companies and their liquidity needs, in addition to their current over-the-counter listings business," said Alf Poor, CEO of Ideanomics.

The global debt market hovered around USD 243 trillion globally at the end of 2018, more than 3x global GDP. According to Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the global bond market outstanding grew from USD 73 trillion in 2008 to USD 100 trillion in 2017. This represents a compounded annual growth rate of 3.1 percent in a decade, outpacing the global GDP growth rate of 2.4 percent in the same time period.

It is worth noting that 36.1 percent of the growth in this period was contributed by issuance originated in China and Asia where assets have been formed from real estate, to lease financing, to government financed projects, to corporate debt but completely lacking the financial market product conversion. Asia claims debt-based fund raising is 2-4 percent of the market versus 75 percent in the US.