Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition gains momentum as QRT, Vertalo and zerohash join
Coalition membership does not require firms to enter commercial arrangements or issue, list or support securities.
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Rhea-AI Summary
Bullish (NYSE: BLSH) and Equiniti announced that Qube Research & Technologies, Vertalo and zerohash have joined their Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition. The additions bring quantitative trading, transfer agency and digital asset infrastructure expertise to the initiative, formed on September 24 with Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth.
The coalition aims to develop standards and infrastructure for issuer-sponsored tokenized securities, blockchain-based securities that preserve issuers’ relationships with shareholders. Members will meet Equiniti issuers and capital-markets leaders at the New York Stock Exchange on October 27 to discuss tokenization and supporting infrastructure. Participation is non-binding and requires no commercial arrangement, security issuance or listing, liquidity provision, or support for a particular product.
Positive
- None.
Negative
- Minor pointCoalition participation is non-binding, with no required commercial arrangement, issuance, listing, liquidity provision or product support.
Key Figures
- New coalition members
- 3 firms
- QRT, Vertalo and zerohash joined the coalition
- Onboarded customers
- 10 million customers
- zerohash's stated customer base for extending its onchain stack
Historical Context
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Bullish and Equiniti launched the coalition with Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth.
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Key Terms
transfer agent financial
stablecoin technical
central limit order book technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bullish (NYSE: BLSH) and Equiniti today announced that Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), Vertalo and zerohash have joined the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition, building on the initiative’s launch just weeks ago and expanding the range of market participants working to advance issuer-sponsored tokenized securities.
The addition of three firms spanning quantitative trading, transfer agency, and digital asset infrastructure, respectively, marks another step towards the Coalition’s goal of establishing the standards and infrastructure needed to bring issuer tokens on-chain, while preserving the fundamental relationship between issuers and their shareholders.
Bullish and Equiniti formed the Coalition on Sept. 24 alongside founding members Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth to advance an issuer-token model for tokenized securities, in which the issuers tokenize on their terms and maintain their relationship with shareholders. Its launch followed the SEC’s Sept. 17 Innovation Exemption, which requires venues to verify that a tokenized stock gives holders the same rights as the traditional share.
The newest members bring complementary expertise critical to the development of tokenized equity markets:
- QRT brings the perspective of a global quantitative and systematic investment firm active across equities, derivatives and digital assets, helping inform how tokenized securities can function within modern trading markets.
- Vertalo, an SEC-registered transfer agent, brings agentic tokenization and transfer agency technology that links tokenized securities to the shareholder records carrying a holder’s dividends and votes, helping enable the digital asset ecosystem.
- zerohash provides regulated onchain infrastructure that enables leading financial institutions to embed crypto trading, stablecoin payments and tokenized assets directly into their own products. zerohash powers groups including Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, Public, tastytrade, OnePay and Visa.
“The momentum behind tokenized equities is building, and so is the Coalition,” said Thomas Cowan, Head of Tokenization at Bullish. “Our goal isn’t simply to put stocks on a blockchain. It’s to help build a market where issuers remain connected to their shareholders and investors retain the rights and protections they expect. Adding QRT, Vertalo and zerohash brings more of the expertise needed to translate that vision into practical standards and infrastructure. The next phase is about turning industry alignment into tangible progress.”
"Issuer-sponsored tokens work because the company's shareholder records and the token agree, that agreement is at the heart of modern transfer agency and is what drives the most routine and required corporate actions and decisions," said Dave Hendricks, Founder and CEO of Vertalo. "Since launching our platform in 2019, Vertalo's mission has acted in service of our issuer clients and their shareholders. As a member of Coalition, that means making sure that the issuer, not a random third party, stays in the driver's seat when the decision to tokenize those shares is made."
“Blockchains are fundamentally disrupting how value is moved globally, including equities. Tokenization opens up greater distribution, improved utility and institutions can offer customers products that weren’t possible before,” said Edward Woodford, CEO and Founder of zerohash. “We have always viewed blockchain as a horizontal technology that can extend support to any onchain asset and we are pleased to participate in this Coalition. zerohash plans to extend its onchain stack with 10 million onboarded customers to meet the Token Standards, providing meaningful distribution across our existing customer base.”
Coalition members will meet with Equiniti issuers and capital-markets leaders at the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 27 to discuss how public companies can approach tokenization, the infrastructure required to support it, and how issuer-sponsored models can connect traditional markets with blockchain-based rails.
The Coalition remains open and non-exclusive, and additional participants are invited to join over time.
Contact: media@bullish.com
About the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition
The Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition is a non-exclusive industry working group convened by Bullish and Equiniti to explore and advance the infrastructure, standards and commercial ecosystem required to support issuer-sponsored tokenized securities. Participants include firms across brokerage, exchanges, transfer agency, custody, liquidity, technology and other areas of market infrastructure. Participation in the Coalition is non-binding and does not require any participant to enter into a commercial arrangement, issue or list a security, provide liquidity or support any particular product.
About Bullish:
Bullish (NYSE: BLSH) is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides regulated market infrastructure and information services. This includes Bullish Exchange -- an institutionally focused digital assets spot and derivatives exchange, integrating a high-performance central limit order book matching engine with automated market making to provide deep and predictable liquidity. Bullish Europe is regulated under MiCAR as a crypto asset service provider offering spot trading and custody services for digital assets.
Bullish is the parent company of CoinDesk, a leading provider of digital asset media and information services. CoinDesk's offerings include: CoinDesk Indices -- a collection of tradable proprietary and single-asset benchmarks and indices that track the performance of digital assets for global institutions in the digital assets and traditional finance industries; CoinDesk Data -- a broad suite of digital asset market data and analytics, providing real-time insights into prices, trends and market dynamics; and CoinDesk Insights -- a digital asset media and events provider and operator of coindesk.com, a digital media platform that covers news and insights about digital assets, the underlying markets, policy and blockchain technology.
In May 2026, Bullish agreed to acquire Equiniti in a
For more information, please visit bullish.com and follow LinkedIn and X.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Sentences containing words such as "believe," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "expect," "should," "could," "anticipate," "estimate," "predict," "project," or their negatives, or other similar expressions of a future or forward-looking nature generally should be considered forward-looking statements and include, without limitation, statements relating to the acquisition of Equiniti, the timing of, and our ability to obtain, maintain, and operate under, regulatory approvals, authorizations, licenses, registrations, and consents, future events or Bullish's future financial or operating performance, business strategy, and potential market opportunity of Bullish, Equiniti or the combined companies, our plans and expectations related to tokenization and the growth and adoption of tokenized securities and blockchain technology, competition in our industry, the regulatory and legal environment, including regulatory proceedings or approvals, and general economic and business conditions. Such forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Bullish, are inherently uncertain and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause results to differ from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the satisfaction of the conditions to closing the acquisition of Equiniti in the anticipated timeframe or at all, the failure to obtain necessary regulatory approvals, the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the combination, the ability to successfully integrate the business, litigation or regulatory actions related to the acquisition and combination, disruption from the acquisition and combination and its impact on our ability to grow our business and operations, including in new geographic locations, the costs or expenditures associated therewith, competition in our industry, and the evolving rules and regulations applicable to digital assets, tokenization and our industry. You should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made, and Bullish undertakes no duty to update these forward-looking statements.
FAQ
AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
Which companies joined Bullish and Equiniti’s Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition?
Qube Research & Technologies, Vertalo and zerohash joined the coalition. They bring expertise in quantitative trading, transfer agency and digital asset infrastructure, respectively, to its work on issuer-sponsored tokenized securities.