France’s first case! ST Group will carry out a full end-to-end on-chain IPO, with the Lise blockchain platform to be listed on 4/9

French ST Group will complete the world’s first fully on-chain IPO with Lise, combining tokenized securities and a real-time settlement mechanism to open up a new financing model for small and mid-sized businesses.

Airplane parts supplier leads the way; France will be home to the world’s first fully on-chain listed company

France’s fintech industry is about to reach a historic milestone. ST Group, an aerospace components manufacturer headquartered near Toulouse, has officially announced that it will conduct its initial public offering (IPO) on April 9. The initiative bypasses traditional securities exchanges and instead chooses to list fully on-chain on the blockchain trading platform Lise (Lightning Stock Exchange).

Image source: ST Group ST Group announces it will carry out its IPO on the blockchain trading platform Lise

According to this aerospace subcontractor, this is the world’s first IPO completed by a traditional company on a native tokenized exchange. ST Group primarily produces composite parts used in aircraft, defense systems, and space programs. Its projected revenue from potential projects over the next 10 years is expected to reach as much as €59 million (about $68 million). For small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) like ST Group, the costs of pursuing a traditional listing route are extremely high and the process is cumbersome.

The company’s CEO Mark Kepeneghian frankly admits that blockchain technology provides a practical equity financing pathway for French industrial SMEs; otherwise, the company would not even be considering listing publicly.

Breaking traditional financial barriers, Lise integrates trading and settlement with blockchain technology

The Lise platform that will help ST Group access the capital markets is a new exchange based in Paris, designed specifically for tokenized equities. Lise’s core technical architecture is built on Hyperledger Besu’s permissioned private chain, enabling it to highly integrate the trading, clearing, and settlement functions that are dispersed across different institutions in traditional markets into a single unified automated system.

Compared with the clearing process that traditional exchanges take days to complete, Lise is capable of operating 24/7 around the clock and offers near real-time settlement services, running uninterrupted all 7 days of the week. The exchange has obtained an investment company license from France’s Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and operates under the EU distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot regime.

The shares issued on Lise are “security tokens” from the moment they are created. The blockchain ledger is the sole source of truth for securities registration, completely changing how the underlying infrastructure of financial markets operates.

Zero fees and investing from one share; tokenized securities reshape retail investing experience

To lower the barrier to investing and put financial democratization into practice, Lise has introduced multiple innovative mechanisms into ST Group’s IPO plan. After investors complete registration on the platform, the transferred funds are automatically converted into digital deposits, and then they can complete subscription with a simple click. The platform eliminates subscription fees and custody fees commonly seen in traditional markets, and sets a minimum investment threshold of “from one share.” This mechanism effectively eliminates the privileges of institutional investors and the interference of gatekeepers. All investors are allocated according to a “first come, first served” principle, ensuring that ordinary investors can compete fairly with professional institutions on the same course.

This IPO has received support from major mainstream French financial institutions, including BNP Paribas, the asset servicing organization CACEIS under Crédit Agricole, and France’s national investment bank Bpifrance, among other heavyweight players. The participation of these specialized financial institutions and placement banks ensures that this initiative is truly an IPO, with a high level of expertise and credibility.

A test case under the regulatory sandbox; Europe’s financial transformation ahead of MiCA

The timing of this listing initiative is highly strategic, coming right before the 2026 Paris Blockchain Week. At present, the market size of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization worldwide is currently approaching the $1 billion mark, and the total market capitalization of tokenized stocks has reached $941 million.

As the transition period of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) ends on July 1, 2026, only formally authorized crypto-asset service providers will be allowed to operate in the EU. France’s regulator, the AMF, has repeatedly urged relevant companies to submit applications as soon as possible.

Lise’s operational results are a key experimental benchmark under the EU DLT pilot regime. If ST Group’s fully on-chain IPO succeeds, Lise is expected to guide another 3 to 4 companies to list by the end of 2026. This will open up a cheaper, more efficient capital market pathway for European SMEs, and will also demonstrate that blockchain technology can solve liquidity and access challenges in real capital markets, thereby channeling Europe’s savings into the real economy.