2020 has proven to be the year of crypto M&A with over $600 million spent in 60 deals during the first half of the year. Many of these deals have come from industry titans such as Coinbase, buying up ancillary products and services. What is less common, is the merging of two established and live-trading blockchain companies.
LTO Network and VIDT have officially announced they will be merging, creating what is now to be the largest blockchain company in the Netherlands. More specifically, the merger will align two companies dedicated to providing enterprise B2B blockchain solutions. The merger comes just two weeks following LTO Network’s partnership announcement with the United Nations to start putting land parcels on the blockchain.
Both companies are well-known and currently ranked around the top 250 blockchain companies based on market cap. LTO Network technology provides a common platform for developers to create innovative applications without worrying about the blockchain back-end and front-end needed to make them work. Their system also allows them to be integrated into the already operating legacy systems of their customers.
VIDT Datalink, on the other hand, is a blockchain-powered document certification platform. The VIDT API enables organisations to certify and secure their digital data against fraud and manipulation. With VIDT’s Datalink architecture, VIDT Datalink is compatible with virtually any existing system to ensure data integrity without impacting workflows.
LTO Network’s vertical expertise, size, and development toolkit for decentralized workflows will help VIDT Datalink scale and instantly reach more partners and customers. For LTO Network, VIDT brings their expertise in proprietary solutions and open-source API interfaces for corporations that use them to anchor documents and verify them. Additionally, VIDT works frequently with NTFs that secure the validity of precious goods, thus helping to prevent frauds.
The Strategic Merger Is Supported By a Long Working History
For LTO and VIDT, the relationship between the two Dutch companies runs deep as the founders have a personal friendship and track record of working together, such as delivering digital certificates, securing sensor data with IBM, and providing file authentication for several companies like AmSpec, NEN, and many others.
The merger will provide a foundation for a political and strategic pivot that combines the presence of VIDT Datalink as a member of DBC, and of LTO Network as a member of Techleap. This can help expand potential clients’ reach across the spectrum of work and social platforms. In addition, the new company will share strategic management of resources and a central location to save costs.
According to the official release, the merger is also a starting point to a much bigger goal. Rick Schmitz, CEO of LTO Network says, “Data is one of the most valuable resources in the world, and the combination of LTO Network Data integrity solutions combined with VIDT’s technologies creates strong confidence for both companies to reach top 15 blockchain business status and an overall glorious future.”
How the Merger Will Impact Token Holders and Operations
One of the most common concerns around mergers of live trading companies is around what will happen to the existing tokens. In this case, tokenomics for both projects will change, however, the token supplies will remain as they are with their supplies, communities, and teams remaining the same. The total value locked (TVL) of VIDT (all transactions) will now fully go to LTO instead of other blockchains, creating an anticipated network growth for LTO.
Further financial updates and new tokenomics will be released soon by both teams.
