Tokenization Firm Securitize Nears NYSE Debut After Raising $400mn

The company said on 26 Jun that fewer than 30% of Cantor Equity Partners II shareholders redeemed their shares for cash, leaving the merger with about $400mn in gross proceeds, including funding from a previously announced private investment. 

The capital boosts expected gross proceeds by nearly 80% from the roughly $225mn originally forecast. The transaction is based on a pre-money equity valuation of $1.25bn. 

The merger remains subject to shareholder approval at a meeting scheduled for 29 Jun. If approved, the transaction would close on 1 Jul, with the combined company beginning trading on the New York Stock Exchange the following day. 

Existing shareholders, including asset managers ARK Invest, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, are rolling 100% of their holdings into the newly listed company rather than cashing out, meaning they will remain shareholders in Securitize after the listing. 

Tokenization push 

Tokenization is the process of representing ownership of a digital token on a blockchain. Founded in 2017, Securitize provides infrastructure for issuing, managing and trading tokenized securities and other assets on blockchain networks. The company says it tokenizes more than $4bn of assets under management.  

Its public listing comes as tokenization has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital asset industry, with the value of tokenized onchain assets reaching roughly $31.5bn as of 26 Jun. 

"When we started more than eight years ago, the idea that major institutions would embrace tokenized securities was still largely theoretical," Securitize co-founder and chief executive officer Carlos Domingo said in a statement. "Today, tokenization is moving into the mainstream." 

Institutional traction 

The listing comes as Securitize has emerged as one of the dominant providers of tokenization infrastructure for traditional financial institutions. Its platform powers tokenized funds for BlackRock, Apollo, KKR and other asset managers, while BlackRock's BUIDL fund has grown into one of the world's largest tokenized Treasury products with assets worth $3bn as of 26 Jun. Earlier this month, Securitize also expanded its tokenized credit offerings to Solana with plans for a $250mn allocation from Ethena. 

The company competes with crypto-native tokenization firms such as Figure Technology Solutions and Ondo Finance, while also contending with Wall Street incumbents including JPMorgan, DTCC and Euroclear that are also investing in tokenized securities and digital settlement infrastructure.