Securitize to Launch Real, Regulated Onchain Shares in Q1 2026

Forget the hype—real assets are finally hitting the chain. Securitize just announced its plan to bring regulated, bona fide company shares directly onto the blockchain, with a target launch in the first quarter of 2026.

Cutting Out the Middleman

This move bypasses the traditional, paper-laden settlement systems that can take days to finalize a trade. Instead, ownership gets digitized, settled in minutes, and lives transparently on a distributed ledger. It’s a direct challenge to the old guard’s infrastructure.

The Regulatory Green Light

This isn't a wild-west token offering. The key differentiator is regulation. Securitize is building within existing financial frameworks, aiming to offer shares that regulators recognize as the real deal—not just a digital IOU. It’s a play for institutional legitimacy, not just retail speculation.

Why 2026 Matters

The Q1 2026 timeline isn't arbitrary. It gives the market over a year to watch, wait, and build the necessary plumbing—custody solutions, broker integrations, and liquidity pools. It sets a concrete deadline for an industry often criticized for vaporware promises.

The finance world loves its gatekeepers and fees, so watching a blockchain protocol potentially slice through that bureaucracy is almost poetic. If this lands as promised, it won't just be a new product—it'll be a quiet revolution, turning stock certificates into lines of code and leaving a lot of expensive intermediaries wondering what just happened.

Stocks on Securitize represent real public company equity 

Stocks purchased on Securitize are compliantly issued and maintained on-chain, representing genuine public company equity. Investors who buy a stock on Securitize also appear directly on the issuer’s cap table and receive full shareholder rights, including proxy voting and dividend entitlements.

The shares exist as tokens under self-custody, and the assets cannot be rehypothecated or lent without the owner’s consent. However, the tokens can be transferred peer-to-peer across whitelisted, compliant wallets.

Securitize says this model works because it acts as the U.S. SEC-registered transfer agent. The token itself is the legally recognized share, while blockchain serves as the record of ownership. 

The architecture was demonstrated in 2024 when the publicly traded Exodus Movement Inc. (NYSE: EXOD) issued its equity natively onchain. However, this model is expected to expand rapidly as investors and issuers experience the actual benefits of onchain ownership.

Native issuance provides full onchain tokenized stock trading

Natively tokenized public stocks have remained mainly static assets until now. They are issued onchain, held onchain, but traded through traditional off-chain processes if at all. 

However, with this launch, natively tokenized public stocks can now be sold and bought fully onchain. For the first time, tokenized stocks can be traded in real time through a Web3-native experience. Meanwhile, the transfers comply with the regulatory requirements governing public market trading. Securitize believes this is necessary, despite some in the industry believing it was not possible. 

The tokenization platform has made it possible by combining regulatory engagement, purpose-built infrastructure, and a commitment to protecting investors. It also aims to safely expand tokenization across the industry by sharing the workings of the newly launched real tokenized stocks with the broader ecosystem.

Purchasing stocks on Securitize is designed to feel like Web3, as investors must complete a Securitize ID once to connect their wallets. Investors can use stablecoins to buy stocks through instant onchain swaps and receive shares directly in their wallets.

Meanwhile, the tokenized tokens are available 24/7, including nights, weekends, and holidays. Trading is carried out through Securitize’s regulated broker-dealers, and all transactions are executed through the platform’s U.S. SEC-registered Broker Dealer and ATS, Securitize Markets.

However, European investor orders are processed through Securitize Europe Brokerage & Markets. The platform’s European investment firm was recently approved for a Trading Services System (TSS) license. Securitize Markets supports around-the-clock trading in two different ways, depending on whether U.S. markets are open or closed.

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