Tokyo — June 10, 2022 — Asteria Corporation (Japan listed, Security Code: 3853) announced today that it will hold an “Annual Shareholders Meeting without a designated physical location” (hereinafter a virtual-only meeting of shareholders) on Saturday, June 25, using blockchain*1 technology. This meeting will be held in Japanese only.
The overview of Asteria’s 24th Annual Shareholders Meeting
Under the revised Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act that took effect in June 2021, domestic companies can hold a meeting of shareholders without the need to set a physical venue. After the amendment was enacted, Asteria last year changed the Articles of Incorporation at its Annual Shareholders Meeting and developed a blockchain system enabling stockholders to exercise their voting rights, ask questions and table motions to allow for virtual-only meetings of shareholders.*2
Asteria sets its sight on the era where various social activities are taking place on the Web3.0*3 domain underpinned by blockchain technology which prevents tempering, ensures authenticity and supports decentralized networks. Accordingly, the company developed a blockchain-based system which allows stockholders to take part in all the processes online in a fair and transparent manner at a meeting of shareholders, the highest decision-making body of a company. The Web3.0 concept has been even incorporated into Japanese government policies. For instance, its draft “grand design and action plan for a new form of capitalism, which was released on June 7 during the ninth meeting of the council of new form of capitalism realization, referred to the development of an environment which promotes Web3.0.
[The main features of Asteria’s blockchain-based voting system]
Issues tokens for 10,221 shareholders with voting rights
Records all activities pertaining to the exercise of voting rights by stockholders on blockchain, which makes it virtually impossible to alter results and cherry-pick questions
Adopts Quorum*4 blockchain platform which draws attention as an enterprise version of Ethereum
Processes approval or disapproval of each of seven proposals using smart contracts
Shareholders can easily exercise their voting rights, ask questions and table motions using their PC, smartphone and tablets.
Shareholders can participate in all the processes via smartphone
This year’s convocation notice for Asteria’s Annual Shareholders Meeting
A list of shareholder’s rights
Exercise of voting rights
Questions can be typed into a box
[Regarding the exercise of voting rights]
The 24th Annual Shareholders Meeting will have three main issues to be resolved and ask shareholders to express their approval or disapproval of seven proposals. Asteria therefore issued seven types of blockchain-based tokens that act as voting rights for shareholders. Shareholders can either choose to vote using the blockchain system or mail a paper voting form.
Schedules
Dates
Events
Thursday, June 9
The dispatch of convocation notices for Asteria’s 24th Annual Shareholders Meeting enclosed with a brochure on the exercise of voting rights using blockchain
Thursday, June 9 to Friday, June 24
Early voting period (Opens 24 hours. The last day opens until 5:30 p.m.)
Saturday, June 25
Voting rights can be exercised and questions can be asked using the blockchain-based system from 10.30 a.m. on the day of the Annual Shareholders Meeting. The results will be announced during the event.
(Asteria’s Annual Shareholders Meeting will be live-streamed in which voting results will be announced. The live stream will be archived as an on-demand asset. For more information about how to watch the live streaming, visit Asteria’s Shareholders Meeting information page: www.asteria.com/jp/ir/stock/meeting/ *in Japanese only)
Future Plans
Asteria held an Annual Shareholders Meeting in June 2021 with no stockholder attendance at its former head office in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward.
Asteria held an effectively virtual-only Annual Shareholders Meeting in June 2021 with no stockholder attendance at a physical venue. As a pioneer in virtual-only meetings of shareholders, Asteria has been promoting various types of shareholders meetings.
Asteria will offer the blockchain-based system for virtual-only meetings of shareholders as an enterprise service mainly for listed companies. It also plans to expand the service so that it can ensure fairness of the voting results and in the process of ballot collection in the areas of public administration and entertainment.
*1 : Blockchain is a data processing technology using P2P method that runs Bitcoin. Even cheap computers ensure zero downtime and security that makes tampering impossible. It eliminates the need to create a backup, etc. and helps achieve a dramatic cost reduction. It draws attention s as a technology that can be used in the finance and other industries.
*2 : Under the revised Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act that took effect in June 2021, domestic companies can hold a virtual-only meeting of shareholders for two years as a special measure. Asteria changed the Articles of Incorporation during a hybrid attendance-type virtual meeting of shareholders in 2021, which allowed it to hold “a meeting of shareholders without a designated physical venue” beyond the period of the special measure.
*3 : Web3 is the concept of a blockchain-based decentralized internet.
*4 : Quorum, currently owned by ConsenSys of the U.S., is an Ethereum-based smart contract platform. It was developed by J.P. Morgan Chase of the U.S. as an enterprise blockchain used in the finance area.
About Asteria Corporation
Asteria, formerly Infoteria Corporation, develops and sells software and services which connect a variety of in-house computers and devices. Its key product, ASTERIA Warp, is middleware which integrates data in different computer systems without coding. As of end-March 2022, 9,664 companies, mainly large and medium ones, had introduced the product. Another product, Handbook, allows users to carry around materials used for sales activities and meetings as well as product catalogues in electronic files on smartphones and tablets. A total of 1,647 companies and public institutions had adopted the product through end-March 2022.
For more information about Asteria, visit www.asteria.com/jp/en/
For the press enquiries, please contact Masumi Koizumi of Asteria’s PR and IR department.
TEL: +81-3-5718-1297 / Mobile: +81-80-7716-9841 (Koizumi) / E-mail: press@asteria.com For enquiries about the system behind hybrid attendance-type virtual meetings of shareholders, please contact Kazuya Mori of NoCode Promotion Office.
E-mail: blockchain@asteria.com
Asteria, Handbook and Platio are registered trademarks of Asteria Corporation.
The names of companies, products, services and logos are registered or unregistered trademarks of individual companies.
