Bullish has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Equiniti from Siris in a transaction valued at about $4.2 billion, giving the crypto exchange operator a major foothold in shareholder services and tokenized securities infrastructure.
The deal includes $1.85 billion of assumed Equiniti debt and roughly $2.35 billion in Bullish stock consideration, subject to customary adjustments. Bullish priced the stock consideration at $38.48 per share, based on its 30-day volume-weighted average price as of the May 4 close.
The acquisition is expected to close in January 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Until then, the deal remains exposed to approval risk, integration risk, and the wider regulatory treatment of tokenized securities.
Equiniti is one of the largest transfer-agent and shareholder-services businesses in the world, serving nearly 3,000 issuer clients, 15,000 total corporate clients, and more than 20 million shareholders. Its client base includes major public companies, while its infrastructure processes about $500 billion in annual payments.
That matters because tokenized securities need more than a blockchain wrapper. Issuers still need recordkeeping, corporate actions, payments, compliance controls, investor identity workflows, and links to existing custodians, broker-dealers, and central securities depositories. A regulated transfer agent gives Bullish access to the part of the market that sits behind ownership records, dividend flows, proxy materials, and cap-table administration.
The planned combined platform is aimed at corporate issuers that want end-to-end tokenization services. That could include token design, issuance, compliance workflows, distribution, secondary liquidity, real-time ownership visibility, 24/7 trading for eligible securities, and stablecoin-based payment and settlement tools.
Bullish already operates digital-asset trading infrastructure, including spot and derivatives markets for institutional users. Equiniti would add the traditional issuer-services layer needed to connect tokenized securities with public-company workflows.
The strategy fits a broader shift in tokenized real-world assets, where the market has moved beyond tokenized Treasuries into stocks, funds, payments, and settlement rails. Stablecoins are especially important to that shift because they give tokenized markets a programmable cash leg for payments, redemptions, and faster settlement.
Bullish plans to support secondary trading infrastructure for eligible tokenized equities outside the United States, serving non-U.S. investors. That geographic detail is important because tokenized shares remain a heavily regulated area, and access will depend on local securities rules, investor eligibility, market structure approvals, and custody arrangements.
The transaction would put Bullish, Equiniti, Bullish Exchange, and CoinDesk under the same corporate umbrella. Equiniti CEO Dan Kramer and the existing leadership team are expected to keep responsibility for day-to-day operations, regulatory duties, and client relationships, while Bullish provides tokenization and market-infrastructure support.
The combined company is projected to generate about $1.3 billion in adjusted total revenue and more than $500 million in adjusted EBITDA less capex for 2026 on a pro forma basis. Bullish also expects 6% to 8% annual revenue growth from 2027 to 2029, with tokenization and blockchain services contributing a higher-growth segment.
The acquisition places a crypto-native exchange operator directly inside the plumbing of public-company ownership records. If regulators approve the deal, the next battleground for tokenized securities will not only be blockchain speed or exchange liquidity. It will be whether issuers, transfer agents, custodians, and settlement networks can turn tokenized ownership into a regulated service that public companies and investors actually use.
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