NYSE taps Broadridge to run onchain shareholder voting for tokenized stocks

Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR) will provide onchain governance and digital transfer agency services for the New York Stock Exchange’s planned tokenized securities platform, the company announced on Monday.

Broadridge, Computershare, Equiniti and tokenization firm Superstate have joined the project as transfer agent partners, the exchange said. Together, Computershare, Equiniti and Broadridge serve nearly 5,000 publicly listed companies, including almost 99% of the S&P 500, according to the exchange.

“Our priority remains protecting and upholding market integrity through every technological advancement,” Lynn Martin, president of NYSE Group, said in the announcement.

The back office moves onchain

The participation of the three incumbent transfer agents is the notable part of the deal for anyone who follows market structure. These firms maintain the records of who owns what at nearly every large US company, so a listed issuer that wants to tokenize its shares can now do so without leaving the shareholder infrastructure it already uses behind.

Broadridge will keep its traditional transfer agency work as well, covering both tokenized shares and conventional equities. The arrangement covers connecting tokenized shares with proxy materials, voting rules and verified ownership records, and its contribution includes smart contracts that enforce governance rules along with tools for authenticating digital wallets.

“Broadridge is building the governance layer for tokenized equities,” Tim Gokey, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Investors will be able to vote through supported digital wallets, brokerage platforms or Broadridge’s existing ProxyVote system. In May, Broadridge processed proxy voting for Galaxy Digital with shareholder votes executed on an Avalanche-based layer-1 blockchain, a run of its ProxyVote platform with tokenized securities that predates the NYSE contract.

Ten months of quiet assembly

The NYSE first outlined its tokenized securities platform in January. Securitize and tZERO were earlier partners on the project, and in March Securitize was named the initial digital transfer agent through a memorandum of understanding with the exchange. The planned platform would combine the exchange’s Pillar trading engine with blockchain-based settlement and custody systems that can support multiple networks, with 24/7 trading, instant settlement and stablecoin funding.

The NYSE is not alone in the race to tokenize US equities. The DTCC unveiled its own platform last week, letting eligible firms convert stocks, ETFs and US Treasuries into blockchain-based tokens, and Nasdaq is developing competing infrastructure, including a partnership with Kraken’s parent company. The NYSE’s parent Intercontinental Exchange is also building a separate tokenized securities venue with OKX.

Nothing is live yet. The platform remains subject to regulatory approval, and Broadridge’s services are tied to that approval coming through.