Computershare Taps Securitize to Tokenize Thousands of Company Stocks on Wall Street

Securitize said Wednesday that it will work with Computershare, the world’s largest transfer agent, on issuing securities in tokenized form, enabling thousands of companies on Wall Street to distribute digital representations of stock on-chain.

Under the companies’ agreement, issuers will be able to provide shareholders with so-called Issuer-Sponsored Tokens, or ISTs. The assets will exist in the cryptosphere alongside securities that are maintained in traditional form, according to an announcement.

Computershare says it currently serves as the transfer agent for 58% of companies that make up the S&P 500, acting as an intermediary between issuing firms and shareholders through functions such as processing changes in share ownership and distributing dividends.

Securitize has issued tokenized assets across more than 15 blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana, and the company is expected to scale ISTs everywhere that issuers want, a person familiar with the agreement told Decrypt.

As part of Computershare’s tokenization push, investors will be able to gain on-chain access to major tech companies including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia, Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said in an X post. He noted that the tokens retain the same rights and economics as traditional shares, while allowing investors to borrow against them on-chain.

The S&P 500 comprises stocks that make up roughly 80% of the total U.S. equity market, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, potentially unlocking trillions of dollars in on-chain value. The companies’ agreement is expected to support shares maintained through Computershare’s Direct Registration System, registered in individuals’ names.

The agreement marks a major step in traditional finance’s shift toward blockchain-based rails, following Securitize’s partnership with the New York Stock Exchange last month, which involves the creation of a platform allowing securities to change hands round-the-clock.

“Our focus has been to empower U.S.-listed companies to issue tokenized equity while retaining control with confidence over their issued capital,” Computershare CEO of Issuer Services, North America Ann Bowering said in a statement.

By working with Computershare, 10,000 public companies in the U.S. will be able to shift capital on-chain, Graham Ferguson, head of ecosystem at Securitize, said in an X post. Over time, the Miami-based firm has emerged as one of the most noted players in the tokenization space.

Securitize is behind BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, a product valued at nearly $2.6 billion, according to RWA.xyz. In total, Securitize has distributed $4.3 billion worth of assets on-chain since the company was established in 2017.

Securitize is backed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Late last year, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and COO Rob Goldstein declared that tokenization is “the next major evolution in market infrastructure,” echoing comments made as early as 2022.