Author: Castle Labs

Compiler: Sam, Techub News

“Tokenization is... the most critical infrastructure trend in the next 25 years.”

This statement was made by Bullish CEO Thomas Farley following Bullish's acquisition of global transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion. In the same week, Securitize, Jump, and Jupiter Exchange launched fully on-chain, regulated tokenized equity trading; Republic Crypto launched tokenized shares of Animoca Brands on Solana, custodied by BitGo, and facilitated through INX Group.

These advancements opened new pathways for previously non-existent on-chain tokenized equity. We all know that “asset tokenization” is coming, and the charts for RWA (real-world assets) are trending upwards, but “tokenized equity” has been noticeably lagging.

So far, the performance of stocks and private equity has struggled to keep pace with other risk-weighted asset classes.

To date, the performance of stocks and private equity has struggled to keep pace with the overall rhythm of this large category known as RWA. The three announcements above indicate that the infrastructure needed for large-scale growth is being built on multiple levels, especially in the United States, a key area that various implementation paths have previously avoided. Before this, although xStocksFi's cumulative trading volume had surpassed $25 billion and Ondo Finance was also growing rapidly, they had both avoided opening up to U.S. users.

The goal of Bullish's acquisition of Equiniti is to create a transfer agent for tokenized securities and “position Bullish at the forefront of the transformation of capital market infrastructure toward blockchain-native solutions.” The transfer agent is responsible for maintaining the register of securities holders, recording stock holdings, and assisting in dividend distribution, acting as an intermediary between the company and its shareholders.

The collaboration between Securitize, Jump, and Jupiter combines Securitize's compliance and regulatory infrastructure, the liquidity provided by Jump through proprietary AMM, and the distribution capability offered by Jupiter through its interface, thus providing an equity trading experience comparable to traditional brokerages. Carlos Domingo, the CEO and co-founder of Securitize, stated: “The question is no longer whether assets can go on-chain, but whether they can be traded at scale in a way that meets public market standards.” Securitize itself is an SEC-registered agent, hence the tokens on-chain are legally recognized ownership records, with holders enjoying voting rights and dividend rights, differing from many existing products.

The tokenized equity of Animoca Brands was launched in the secondary market through Republic, using regulated securities market infrastructure, not just a simple on-chain issuance layer. This initiative aims to broaden investor access and open up secondary trading space for existing Animoca Brands shareholders.

It is important to note that both types of products are likely to require KYC and whitelist access to ensure execution under a regulated framework and legally recognized ownership.
However, these steps are necessary prerequisites to ensure that these products are fully compliant under SEC regulations.

But why are they each important?

• Securitize / Jump / Jupiter: Before this week, all “trusted on-chain equity trading venues” were designed to actively exclude U.S. users; this is the first path open to U.S. users, where the on-chain tokens themselves are “legally recognized shares,” rather than wrapped layers or derivative rights certificates.

• Bullish / Equiniti: Bullish controlling Equiniti means that the company can seamlessly integrate “tokenized representations” directly into the official shareholders' registry, paving the way for “on-chain representations to be legally considered shares” (rather than wrapped or derivative rights).

• Republic / Animoca: So far, the main focus of bringing equity on-chain has been on “listed stocks,” whereas this time it targets shares that have never been traded on public markets, bridging another access gap and targeting an entirely different audience.

Plus, two “embedded” tokenized equity players

• Ondo Global Markets: The leader in offshore platforms, just surpassed $1 billion TVL yesterday, offering over 260 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs spread across Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, with bridging to HyperEVM (Felix Protocol is its primary distribution path). Each token is issued by Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited as “priority guaranteed structured notes,” with the underlying stocks custodied at Alpaca.

• xStocks (Backed Finance, now acquired by Kraken): Since its launch in June 2025, it has deployed across six chains including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, Ink, TON, and Mantle. Current assets under management (AUM) stand at $424 million, with 120,743 on-chain holders, occupying 8 seats in the “top 11 of tokenized equity ranked by individual holder numbers.”
  Each xStock is an anonymous debt instrument issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited (a SPV vehicle in Jersey), issued based on a prospectus approved by the Liechtenstein FMA. Holders are creditors of the issuer and enjoy “bankruptcy isolation” claims to the fair value of the underlying stocks custodied at Alpaca and InCore Bank.

In the past year, nearly all of the growth in this subcategory can be attributed to “listed stocks.”

More readings and research content

In a recent report, we analyzed these projects and the broader landscape of “asset tokenization.” Feel free to check out our related research.

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