Securitize and Cantor Bring IPOs On-Chain, Backing Ethereum RWA With $4B

Crypto News

Securitize, the real-world asset tokenization firm, and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald have unveiled a partnership that would let public companies conduct initial public offerings and follow-on share sales directly on a blockchain. Under the arrangement announced on July 15, Cantor handles equity capital markets and trading functions while Securitize supplies the infrastructure for issuing, distributing and managing tokenized securities. Securitize Markets, the firm’s SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, participates in underwriting and settlement. Because Securitize issues its flagship tokenized funds chiefly on Ethereum, the deal extends the network’s role as the primary venue for institutional on-chain finance while preserving existing public-market rules for the offerings.

The tie-up joins two firms with heavyweight credentials. Cantor Fitzgerald ranked as the top US IPO underwriter in 2025, expertise its global equities chief said the firm now intends to bring on-chain, where tokenized securities could eventually change hands across regulated marketplaces and decentralized exchange infrastructure. Securitize managed more than $4 billion in assets as of May 2026 and runs tokenized funds alongside major managers including BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane and VanEck. Co-founder and chief executive Carlos Domingo said companies should not have to choose between blockchain efficiency and access to traditional capital markets, framing the venture as on-chain capital formation inside the current regulatory perimeter.

The companies were already intertwined before this announcement. In October 2025, Cantor agreed to take Securitize public through its SPAC, Cantor Equity Partners II, a special-purpose acquisition vehicle, in a deal that raised roughly $400 million and valued the tokenization firm at about $1.25 billion before listing. That transaction closed on July 1, 2026, and Securitize began trading on the New York Stock Exchange the following day. The rapid progression from private RWA specialist to NYSE-listed company underscores how quickly tokenization infrastructure has been absorbed into conventional finance, and how the two firms’ commercial ties set the stage for the new IPO framework.

In Asia, SBI Holdings said on July 17 it had acquired a majority stake in Coinhako, a regulated Singapore crypto exchange, converting the platform into a consolidated subsidiary. The share purchase completed on July 16 after clearance from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, giving the Japanese financial group a licensed foothold in Southeast Asia’s digital-asset market. SBI acquired the business through its Singapore unit, injecting capital into Coinhako’s parent, Holdbuild, and buying out existing shareholders. Coinhako’s operating core, Hako Technology, holds a MAS Major Payment Institution licence. Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said the group aims to build a digital-asset corridor linking Japan and Southeast Asia.

Central to SBI’s expansion is JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin the group plans to route through Coinhako’s customer base and regional network. Unlike algorithmic stablecoins that hold their peg through code and market incentives, JPYSC is a trust-type stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, which began issuance on June 24, 2026 and currently offers it through SBI VC Trade. The token is slated for public-chain circulation once tax treatment and related regulations are finalised. SBI intends to connect JPYSC to its broader digital-finance services, positioning the yen stablecoin as settlement and collateral infrastructure for cross-border investment across its expanding Asian footprint.

On the same day the Coinhako deal closed, SBI announced a separate partnership with US-based Ondo Finance to tokenize Japanese equities and explore using JPYSC for payments and collateral. Tokenized real-world assets increasingly feed on-chain lending markets, where protocols such as Aave accept them as collateral, and SBI’s move signals intent to plug Japanese equity exposure into that emerging plumbing. Kitao said the alliance would realise its synergies as early as possible to deliver next-generation financial services. SBI also disclosed plans to host its first overseas branch-head meeting in Singapore this summer, reinforcing that Coinhako and Ondo sit within a wider Asian digital-asset strategy.

Read together, these deals sketch a single trajectory: incumbent finance is migrating equity issuance, funds and payments onto public blockchains, with Ethereum emerging as the default settlement layer for tokenized securities. Our reading is that the RWA build-out is advancing independently of spot-price sentiment. COINOTAG’s aggregate market data shows the Fear and Greed Index at 25 of 100, or Extreme Fear, with Bitcoin dominance at 69.8% and total crypto market capitalisation near $1.84 trillion, a backdrop in which most altcoin risk stays suppressed and few assets sit near an all-time high. The contrast is telling: institutional tokenization commitments are deepening even as retail conviction, by our data, remains defensive.