Securitize enables on-chain stock path

Securitize and Computershare said Wednesday they will let U.S.-listed companies issue tokenized shares without rewriting how their stock records are maintained. (prnewswire.com) A stock transfer agent is the company that keeps the official shareholder list, handles corporate actions and tracks who owns what. Computershare said it has spent more than 45 years in that role for public companies. (computershare.com) In this setup, issuers can add what the companies call Issuer-Sponsored Tokens, or ISTs, alongside existing shares, including holdings in the Direct Registration System. Securitize said the tokens represent direct equity ownership rather than a derivative layered on top of stock. (prnewswire.com) Computershare will act as transfer agent for those tokenized holdings and process corporate actions for them alongside other directly registered shares. The companies said issuers stay in control of their capital structure and investor communications. (prnewswire.com) The pitch is that companies can put shares on a blockchain without abandoning the legal and operational systems public markets already use. Securitize Chief Executive Carlos Domingo said the arrangement creates “the optimum pathway” for listed U.S. companies to tokenize equity. (prnewswire.com) The scale comes from Computershare’s existing footprint. On its transfer-agent services page, the company says it serves more than 2,500 U.S. transfer-agent clients, 16.5 million shareholder accounts and 58% of the S&P 500. (computershare.com) Securitize has been pushing further into public equities since December, when CoinDesk reported the company planned fully onchain trading for real public stocks in early 2026. Wednesday’s agreement moves that effort closer to the mainstream issuer recordkeeping system. (coindesk.com) (prnewswire.com) The broader market infrastructure is moving in the same direction. In January, CoinDesk reported that Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. aimed to make all 1.4 million securities in its custody digitally eligible, so firms could convert between traditional and tokenized forms faster. (coindesk.com) Computershare North America issuer-services chief Ann Bowering said the design keeps tokenized equity inside the current regulatory environment and preserves the independence expected from a transfer agent. That is the core compromise in this launch: new rails, old controls. (prnewswire.com)