Cantor Fitzgerald Partners With Securitize to Issue Blockchain Shares in IPOs

Cantor Fitzgerald announced a partnership with Securitize on July 15 to help companies issue shares on blockchain when they go public. The firms said Cantor will handle equity capital markets and trading while Securitize supplies the tokenization infrastructure for issuance, distribution and servicing. Securitize, based in Miami, creates blockchain-native shares that companies control directly.

This model differs from the wrapper approach used by firms such as Robinhood and Kraken, in which blocks of stock are held in a special purpose vehicle and synthetic tokens are issued. Ben Boehmke, Head of Strategies for Equities at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the firm selected Securitize partly for its compliance focus.

He added that clients and issuers may choose to place 5% to 10% of an offering in tokenized form and that digitally native hedge funds could offer a sleeve of an IPO on blockchain.

Boehmke noted that Cantor plans to extend the approach beyond IPOs to follow-on offerings. The firm already serves as custodian for Tether reserves and operates funds offering Bitcoin and tokenized gold. Billy Miller, chief operating officer of Securitize, said the blockchain-native model provides companies and investors a safer way to manage tokenized stock than wrapped tokens held in an SPV.

Carlos Domingo, co-founder and chief executive of Securitize, said the partnership supports capital formation onchain within existing regulatory frameworks. Pascal Bandelier, co-chief executive and global head of equities at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the tie-up brings traditional equity market rigor to onchain settlement and distribution.