Bullish President Stacey Cunningham, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), says companies should help shape tokenized stock products as Bullish pursues a $4.2 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti.
Bullish’s appointment of Cunningham as president comes as it works to connect trading with shareholder records in a model that involves the companies issuing the shares. Cunningham has argued that issuers are often left out of discussions about synthetic tokenization.
Some tokenized stock products give holders exposure to a stock’s price without shareholder rights. The OKX-ICE platform is one design that preserves shareholder rights while allowing issuers to veto third-party tokenization. That difference puts the issuer’s role at the center of how a token is structured and how ownership is recorded.
Equiniti, a UK-based transfer agent, maintains official shareholder records and processes ownership changes. Bullish plans to acquire the company for about $4.2 billion. The deal requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in January 2027. If completed, it would bring nearly 3,000 corporate issuer clients and more than 20 million shareholders into the business.
Bullish has tokenized its own shares on Solana this year. At an October event at the NYSE, it demonstrated a transfer of 61 million shares reserved for tokenization and managed by Equiniti. Bullish has also named Solana, Ethereum and Aptos as networks issuers could choose.
Cunningham says round-the-clock trading alone may not persuade companies to adopt tokenization. She has pointed to clearer visibility into shareholder composition, more direct communication with shareholders, faster settlement and lower administrative costs as potential benefits. She also said Bullish can pursue products under current rules without waiting for the CLARITY Act.
The next milestones are regulatory approval for the Equiniti deal and Bullish securing an issuer beyond itself.
Sonny Jang
Sonny Jang reports on people and leadership in digital assets for TokenPost. Send corrections or tips to [email protected].
