What is a security token offering (STO)? The advent of Bitcoin in 2009 made Blockchain mainstream. While cryptos and other blockchain-related financing garnered the trustworthiness of being volatile and speculative, there's a broad consensus regarding the worthiness of blockchain technology and other kinds of distributed ledger technology in finance. Large institutions across banking and technology, such as JP Morgan, Square, and Facebook, have previously entered the blockchain space. Moving forward, we'll see more names as blockchain begins to play an ever-growing role in payments systems, including CBDCs and stablecoins, and the context of liquidity, via asset tokenization through security token offerings. The phrase 'tokens' immediately evokes thoughts concerning ICOs, a method for raising capital for crypto projects and popularized in 2017, which is where we'll begin our journey. What is an initial coin offering (ICO)? ICO, short for initial coin offering, is comparable in concept to initial public offering (IPO), as both allow startup companies and entrepreneurs to boost funds. While securities get issued in return for investment in an IPO, coins or tokens are offered to investors in ICOs. The process by which a company ICOs is easy, but the lack of regulation within the US and abroad around ICOs has resulted in fraudulent crowd sales, illegal airdrops, and outright scams. The ICO craze in 2017 tarnished the trustworthiness of blockchain and tokens for a short period. But through these turbulent times, blockchain's utility as a transformative technology remained strong. The distributed ledger and blockchain industry kept low, looking for a better combination of technological benefits to bring new methods and value to legacy security offerings. The confluence of both of these brought together innovative tokens in the proper execution of a "security token."