Bullish and Equiniti lead new coalition for tokenized securities

Bullish, Equiniti, Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions, and DriveWealth have formed the ‘Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition’ to establish technical standards and infrastructure for tokenized securities. The coalition aims to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets and blockchain networks by ensuring that tokenized shares are directly linked to a company’s official shareholder register.

Unlike many existing tokenized products that merely track a stock’s price without granting ownership, this issuer-sponsored model intends to preserve legal and economic rights, including voting rights, dividends, and participation in corporate actions. This approach addresses concerns that current market offerings often provide economic exposure without true shareholder status.

The initiative follows a recent SEC decision granting conditional exemptions for limited on-chain trading of U.S. listed stocks. The coalition members plan to meet at the New York Stock Exchange on October 27 to discuss methods for connecting public companies to blockchain-based settlement and custody systems.