Security token offering or STO is the issuance of cryptographic tokens based on  blockchain technology which have securities rights embedded in them (or rights from other financial instruments). The main reason for undergoing a STO for the token issuer is to raise funds or capital with investments, and investors, in return for their investment, gain certain returns that are linked to the ownership of those tokens (eg dividends, voting rights, repayment of principal with interest, etc.). However, investors can, of course, also speculate on the price of such tokens, either on OTC markets, or on organized markets, as they will sooner or later form in the near future. Basically, this is akin to  initial public offer of securities on the primary market (IPO), which while offering the same investor guarantees as IPO’s (the drafting of the prospectus, verification of this with financial market regulators, etc.),also have additional advantages, such as in particular:

• facilitated negotiability and greater liquidity of both tokens issued and the speed of transactions enabled by blockchain technology,
• Significantly lower costs, since transactions do not involve traditional agents, such as stock exchanges and clearing - depository companies,
• they are backed with real assets unlike ICOs,
• reduced settlement time

Thus, it can be said that STO’s enable access to financial markets from your "recliner".

STOs are a logical evolution of the recently popular ICO models of initial capital raising. If the ICO’s were of interest because they were more closely connected with the consumer market than the financial ones (most of the tokens issued on the basis of ICO’s were legally and economically comparable with vouchers or cupons for goods and services) and were consequently not subject to strict regulation by most countries and therefore frequently lead to fraud, the STO's attractiveness is precisely that, like any initial issue of financial instruments, they are controlled by financial market regulators. Consequently, they are much more secure and interesting for serious issuers and investors. Unlike the ICO, they also offer effective access to financial markets with all the features that the "traditional" financial instruments have, but with even greater liquidity options.