Digital asset platform Securitize has partnered with Computershare to enable the company to issue tokenized shares alongside more traditional securities.
Computershare is a global financial administration company that serves as a transfer agent and registrar for corporations. Computershare provides tools for managing share registries, employee equity plans, and proxy voting. The company also allows individual investors to directly own and manage shares. Computershare currently works with over 25,000 companies globally, including big names like Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla.
According to Securitize, Computershare can now support US customers with tokenized equities. Issuers may add Issuer-Sponsored Tokens (ISTs) alongside traditional equities. This includes the Direct Registration System (DRS).
Securitize says the “milestone is a major step forward for tokenization, opening the door for millions of investors to hold their equities in tokenized form.”
Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, says that by partnering with the world’s largest transfer agent, they are creating the largest path to tokenized securities.
“ISTs do not rely on derivative tokens that sit on top of underlying shares, nor do they alter any underlying equity. Our work with Computershare connects the technology needed to support tokenization of assets to their deep issuer services expertise, providing U.S. issuers with the ability to create direct equity ownership in token form.”
Ann Bowering, CEO of Issuer Services at Computershare North America, said they designed ISTs to operate within the existing regulatory ecosystem.
Tokenized assets or digital securities are widely recognized as the future of securities. By leveraging technology, processes can be streamlined, automated, and costs reduced. Updates to the global regulatory environment are occurring today to enable tokenized assets.