Securitize goes public on NYSE and issues tokenized shares

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Securitize goes public on NYSE

First on the market

Securitize became the first company to launch tokenized shares directly at the time of its stock market debut. Other companies have previously issued on-chain versions of their shares, but they did not do so at the start of trading. According to Securitize President Brett Redfearn, this situation is likely to change soon.

He noted that Securitize is holding numerous discussions with capital markets divisions at major investment banks, including JPMorgan. The idea is to distribute IPO allocations to crypto investors in tokenized form, for example directly to MetaMask or OKX wallets.

“This conversation is no longer theoretical. It is operational,” Redfearn said. According to him, such transactions could appear within the next three to six months, and he sees them as almost inevitable within the next year.

Redfearn also said that Securitize tried to take part in the SpaceX placement, but the timing was “a little early.” According to him, the public launch of SPCX on June 12 became, in many ways, a testing ground for new blockchain-based services, including pre-IPO markets and tokenized trading.

The sector of real-world assets on blockchain continues to grow rapidly. Analysts increasingly say that the RWA market could eventually reach trillions of dollars.

Issuer-sponsored approach

Tokenized stock wrappers are already appearing on the market. Such products are being developed, for example, by Kraken through its xStocks subsidiary and by other platforms. However, Securitize has chosen a different approach.

Tokenized shares issued through Securitize are not simply backed 1:1 by the underlying asset. The company is focusing on issuer-sponsored tokens. Under this model, the token itself is the security, in line with the SEC’s preliminary guidance on tokenization.

This means that Securitize’s tokenized shares retain full investor rights, including voting rights and dividends. In addition, such securities can be removed from the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the central securities depository that keeps records for almost all U.S. stocks.

Redfearn explained that this approach became possible thanks to Securitize’s vertically integrated model. The company is developing blockchain-based versions of key elements of traditional securities market infrastructure: its own transfer agent, broker-dealer, fund services business and investment adviser.

Some Securitize competitors, including Superstate and tZERO, also work with the issuer-sponsored tokenization model. However, Redfearn believes Securitize remains almost unique because of its comprehensive approach.

“There are companies that compete with us and have registered transfer agents. We have a broker-dealer. But there are not many players that have both a transfer agent and a broker-dealer,” he said.

Securitize also operates an alternative trading system (ATS), where both tokens issued by the company itself and third-party tokenized assets can trade.

Supporters of tokenization usually name international access and round-the-clock trading as two of blockchain’s main advantages. Redfearn agrees with this, but notes that the broader DeFi ecosystem is already looking for other use cases for tokenized assets. For example, such assets can be used as a new form of collateral or placed in yield-bearing vaults.

Redfearn himself said he had used a “looping strategy” on a tokenized fund that Securitize issued for asset manager Apollo.

Why tokenized shares are needed

Tokenized shares are needed to move traditional securities into blockchain infrastructure. This format can give investors access to stocks not only through traditional brokerage accounts, but also through crypto wallets. The main advantage is 24/7 trading: a tokenized asset can circulate even when regular exchanges are closed overnight, on weekends or on holidays.

In addition, tokenization opens the door to new ways of using stocks. They can be used in DeFi as collateral, included in yield strategies, transferred faster between market participants and potentially made available to a broader international audience. In the case of an issuer-sponsored model, the token does not merely copy the stock, but can preserve investor rights, including dividends and voting.

As a reminder, Securitize planned to go public on the New York Stock Exchange after merging with Cantor Equity Partners II.

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