Securitize makes NYSE leap as tokenisation gains ground

Securitize began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SECZ after completing its merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, giving the tokenisation platform a public-market foothold at a time when Wall Street is testing blockchain rails for regulated securities.

The Miami and New York-based company closed its business combination on 1 July, with trading starting the following day. The deal is expected to raise about $400 million in gross proceeds, after Cantor Equity Partners II retained 71.5 per cent of its trust and secured shareholder approval at the end of June. The company had earlier been valued at $1.25 billion on a pre-money equity basis.

SECZ rose during its first trading session, climbing as much as 16 per cent before ending at $12.30, a gain of 4.4 per cent. The debut placed one of the best-known real-world asset tokenisation companies directly inside the listed equity market it has been trying to modernise. Securitize also moved to tokenise part of its own common stock on Avalanche and Solana, a step designed to show how regulated shares can be represented on public blockchains while maintaining issuer control and compliance checks.

The listing follows a series of partnerships that have helped Securitize move from crypto-market infrastructure into mainstream financial plumbing. Its platform has brought more than $4 billion of assets on-chain, spanning funds, private credit products and securities issued with large asset managers. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, launched through Securitize in 2024, became one of the most visible examples of tokenised money-market exposure and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar vehicle used by digital-asset firms seeking yield-bearing collateral.

Securitize was founded in 2017 by Carlos Domingo, a former Telefónica executive, and has drawn backing from investors including BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest, Blockchain Capital and Banco Santander. Its business model covers issuance, compliance, transfer agency, investor onboarding and secondary-market infrastructure for tokenised financial products. The company has also worked with Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane and VanEck, placing it among a small group of firms trying to bridge regulated capital markets and blockchain settlement.

The NYSE listing comes after the exchange partnered with Securitize this year to develop infrastructure for tokenised securities. The collaboration includes work on digital transfer agency standards and mechanisms that would allow corporate and exchange-traded fund issuers to create blockchain-based securities. The broader effort reflects a shift by large market operators from observing tokenisation experiments to building regulated frameworks that could sit alongside existing settlement systems.

Tokenisation converts claims on financial or real-world assets into digital tokens recorded on a blockchain. Supporters argue the model can reduce settlement times, widen access to private markets, enable programmable compliance and improve collateral mobility. For issuers, it can offer automated cap-table management and faster distribution. For investors, the appeal lies in fractional ownership, real-time transferability and the potential for around-the-clock markets.

The sector, however, still faces substantial hurdles. Liquidity remains uneven, even where asset values are large. Many tokenised products have limited turnover, narrow investor bases and high concentration among a small number of holders. Legal enforceability, custody arrangements, reserve verification and cross-border recognition are also unresolved in several jurisdictions. Academic work on real-world asset systems has warned that on-chain tokens do not automatically remove dependence on off-chain legal rights, intermediaries and courts.

Securitize’s public-market status may help it address one of the industry’s central problems: trust. A listed company faces disclosure duties, market scrutiny and governance expectations that private crypto firms often avoid. That could strengthen its pitch to institutional clients that want blockchain efficiency without abandoning familiar regulatory protections. It may also give Securitize more capital to expand its platform, pursue licences and build partnerships with exchanges, custodians and asset managers.

Regulators are moving carefully. Spain’s market watchdog authorised a Securitize-linked blockchain securities venue under Europe’s distributed ledger pilot regime, allowing the issuance, trading and settlement of tokenised securities within a controlled framework. In the United States, the regulatory picture is still developing, with exchanges, fintech firms and asset managers testing models for tokenised stocks, funds and Treasury products while seeking clarity on settlement, investor protection and market structure rules.