Wall Street’s Next Tokenization Test: BlackRock-Backed Securitize’s Market Debut

Whether Wall Street is interested in tokenization translates into demand for companies closely linked to the technology will be tested next week alongside the expected debut of Securitize.

The BlackRock-backed company, which specializes in digital representations of real-world assets, announced plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SECZ,” following the completion of a merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed blank check company.

The transaction moved closer to completion this week when investors who owned less than 30% of Cantor Equity Partners II’s common stock opted to redeem their holdings in the SPAC. As a result, Securitize expects to receive approximately $400 million in proceeds from the combination and related private financing prior to the closing of the deal.

Securitize’s public debut, eight years after the company’s founding, marks a crucial milestone for tokenization and underlines the technology’s shift from abstract market research to an emerging foundation for modern finance, according to CEO Carlos Domingo.

“The idea that large institutions would embrace tokenized security was still largely theoretical,” he said. “Today, tokenization is becoming mainstream, and we believe that becoming a publicly traded company gives us the visibility, credibility and capital to lead.”

In recent years, Securitize has become a well-known resource for institutions beyond the world’s largest asset manager ticked the company for a tokenized money market fund in 2024, such as Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane and KKR. Securitize in March revealed an agreement with the NYSE itself to develop systems for blockchain-native securities.

Securitize noted that the company had more than $4 billion in assets under management as of June. By far the company’s largest product is BlackRock’s BUIDL, which was valued at $2.4 billion on Friday, according to BlackRock figures. RWA.xyz.

Such as infrastructure giants like DTCC wading deeper in the space, Domingo has advocated for ‘native’ tokenization, argue that securities need to be issued directly on-chain rather than packaged in digital shells to reach their full potential at scale.

Last month, the SEC reportedly has postponed an innovation exemption for tokenized stocks after concerns were raised about third-party issuers, which have the potential to complicate corporate actions and governance tasks via tokens issued on-chain, per Bloomberg.

Since becoming SEC chairman, Paul Atkins has described tokenization as technology that has the “potential to transform markets” through streamlined trading, echoing comments made by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink during the crypto market’s 2022 lows.