TL;DR:
Securitize and Computershare announced an agreement to enable the issuance of tokenized shares in companies listed in the United States, injecting blockchain technology into an equity market that exceeds $70 trillion.
The agreement introduces the so-called Issuer-Sponsored Tokens, or ISTs, which can coexist with traditional shares within each issuer’s capital structure. Investors will have the option to hold their positions through conventional systems or via digital wallets, without any changes to the existing regulatory framework.
The structure avoids a common practice in the crypto industry, where tokens represent claims on shares rather than direct ownership of the securities. “ISTs do not rely on derivative tokens layered on top of the underlying shares,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize. “They provide U.S. issuers with the ability to create direct equity ownership in token form.”
Computershare will act as transfer agent for the ISTs of its clients, processing corporate actions such as dividends or stock splits in parallel with traditional records. The firm serves more than 25,000 companies and manages the shareholder records of 58% of the S&P 500 members, giving the agreement a scale that is difficult to replicate.
Ann Bowering, CEO of issuer services at Computershare North America, emphasized that the design they developed preserves companies’ control over their shareholder base: “Our approach has been to empower U.S.-listed companies to issue tokenized shares while maintaining control.”
Securitize enters this agreement with an already well-established profile in real-world asset tokenization. The firm is responsible for the issuance of BlackRock‘s tokenized money market fund, which manages $2.5 billion, and collaborated with the New York Stock Exchange on the development of its tokenized equity platform. The company also plans to go public this year through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II.
