Bullish and Equiniti have expanded the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition with three new members: quantitative investment firm Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), transfer agent Vertalo and digital asset infrastructure provider zerohash. The group aims to develop standards and infrastructure for tokenized securities that connect blockchain-based shares to company shareholder records, as financial institutions explore ways to bring traditional equities onto digital asset networks.

Tokenization Moves Beyond Blockchain Issuance

The coalition, established on September 24 by Bullish and Equiniti alongside founding members Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth, is focused on an issuer-sponsored model of tokenized securities. Under this approach, companies retain control over the decision to tokenize their shares, while the digital representation remains connected to the issuer’s shareholder records.

The addition of QRT, Vertalo and zerohash broadens the initiative’s expertise across trading, shareholder administration and digital asset infrastructure. These functions are central to building tokenized equity markets that can operate alongside conventional securities systems without separating blockchain-based ownership records from the rights attached to the underlying shares.

The coalition’s work comes as regulators and financial services firms consider how distributed ledger technology could support securities issuance, trading, settlement and ownership records. However, the coalition is still working toward standards and infrastructure; its expansion does not itself establish a live trading market or confirm that participating companies will launch tokenized securities.

SEC Exemption Raises the Importance of Shareholder Rights

The initiative follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s September 17, 2026, Innovation Exemption, which provides temporary, conditional relief for certain venues trading tokenized national market system stocks.

Under the SEC framework, eligible venues must verify that tokenized stocks provide holders with the same rights and privileges as equivalent traditional shares. These protections include dividends and voting rights. The order also includes conditions concerning issuer notification and objections, trading limits, smart-contract requirements and disclosure of venue activity.

The regulatory development puts greater emphasis on the connection between a token and the security it represents. A blockchain record alone does not establish that a token holder has the same legal and economic rights as a conventional shareholder. Systems must also support the underlying ownership records and corporate actions that determine those rights.

The SEC’s exemption is temporary and conditional, rather than a blanket authorization for every tokenized-stock model. Its requirements create a regulatory context for the coalition’s focus on issuer control and reliable shareholder records.

New Members Bring Different Market Capabilities

QRT brings experience in quantitative and systematic investing across equities, derivatives and digital assets. Its participation could help the coalition examine how tokenized securities might fit into trading strategies and market structures, although the announcement does not specify a trading product or commitment from QRT.

Vertalo contributes transfer agency and tokenization technology. The company says its systems connect tokenized securities with shareholder records associated with dividends and voting. That link is important for maintaining consistency between on-chain tokens and the issuer’s authoritative records, particularly when corporate actions change the rights or entitlements associated with a holding.

zerohash adds regulated digital asset infrastructure that financial institutions can use to integrate crypto trading, stablecoin payments and tokenized assets into their products. The company said it plans to extend its on-chain technology to meet the coalition’s token standards, drawing on a customer base it describes as comprising 10 million onboarded customers.

Together, the three firms represent distinct pieces of a potential tokenized-equity ecosystem: market participation, ownership administration and digital asset infrastructure. Their involvement could help the group develop standards that account for the practical requirements of multiple market participants, not just the technical process of issuing tokens.

Standards Remain the Next Test

Coalition members were scheduled to meet with Equiniti issuers and capital-markets leaders at the New York Stock Exchange on October 27 to discuss issuer approaches to tokenization, required infrastructure and connections between traditional financial markets and blockchain-based systems.

The coalition remains open and non-exclusive, with additional participants invited to join. Its next challenge will be turning broad agreement on issuer-sponsored tokenization into workable standards, governance arrangements and technical systems.

For public companies, key questions include how tokenized shares would remain aligned with official shareholder registers, how dividends and voting would be handled, and how token-based transactions would interact with existing market infrastructure. For intermediaries, interoperability, regulatory compliance and operational reliability will be critical.

The expansion signals growing coordination around issuer-sponsored tokenization, but adoption will depend on more than membership numbers. Clear operating rules, issuer participation, investor protections and demonstrated compatibility with established securities processes will determine whether the model can move from industry discussions into wider use.

Market Landscape

Tokenized securities use distributed ledger technology to represent financial instruments digitally. Market participants are exploring potential applications across issuance, ownership records, transfers and trading. The issuer-sponsored model emphasizes keeping the token linked to the company’s official shareholder records, rather than relying solely on a third-party token intended to track a stock.

The SEC’s September 2026 Innovation Exemption provides a limited regulatory path for certain on-chain trading venues, subject to conditions and investor protections. The broader market still faces implementation questions involving custody, corporate actions, transfer agency, interoperability and regulatory compliance. The Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition is an industry working group, not evidence that a common technical standard or commercially available market has already been established.

Top Insights

• Bullish and Equiniti added QRT, Vertalo and zerohash to a coalition focused on issuer-sponsored tokenized securities.
• The model aims to keep blockchain-based shares connected to official shareholder records and preserve rights such as dividends and voting.
• The SEC’s September 2026 Innovation Exemption permits limited, conditional on-chain trading of certain U.S.-listed stocks.
• New members contribute quantitative trading expertise, transfer agency technology and digital asset infrastructure.
• The coalition has yet to demonstrate a finalized standard or broad commercial deployment through this announcement.

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