A stock-trading venue on the Canton Network could beat the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to the first trades under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new tokenization framework, starting with a company that wants its shares onchain.
Canton Strategic Holdings (CNTN) said Thursday it agreed to make its common stock available on TSV LLC, with trading expected to begin as soon as Monday.
The Nasdaq-listed company has engaged SEC-registered onchain transfer agent Fairmint to issue the tokenized shares and maintain their official ownership records.
The arrangement takes a different route from the third-party tokenization model that has drawn a wave of objections to OKXICE’s proposed listings. Canton Strategic Holdings is sponsoring the tokenization itself, allowing TSV to avoid the 30-day issuer notice-and-objection process that applies when unaffiliated parties tokenize a company’s stock.
That offers an early test of another approach to bringing equities onchain: securing a company’s participation upfront. It requires cooperation from the issuer and its transfer agent, but removes the uncertainty over whether the company will block trading.
Read more: Why McDonalds, Microsoft and Google saying no to tokenized stocks isn’t a dealbreaker
Starting with a willing issuer
TSV published its initial venue notice on Sept. 23, before OKXICE’s Oct. 4 notice. The waiting period following TSV’s initial public notice has already elapsed.