Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) and Equiniti today announced the formation of the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition, a multi-stakeholder industry working group bringing together leading firms across brokerage, trading and market infrastructure to advance issuer-sponsored tokenized securities.

Alpaca, Apex Fintech Solutions and DriveWealth are among the first market infrastructure participants joining Bullish and Equiniti in the Coalition, which is being established to help develop the technical standards, market infrastructure and operating frameworks necessary for tokenized securities to scale alongside, and interoperate with, the existing capital markets ecosystem.

The Coalition is founded on the belief that the next generation of tokenized public securities should preserve the fundamental relationship between an issuer and its shareholders. Under an issuer-sponsored model, tokenized securities can be directly connected to the issuer’s authoritative shareholder register, helping preserve ownership rights, corporate-action entitlements and investor protections while enabling the benefits of blockchain-based market infrastructure.

The launch follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Sept. 17 Innovation Exemption, which permits limited onchain trading of U.S.-listed equities. The order requires venues to verify that a tokenized stock gives holders the same rights and privileges as the equivalent traditional share, which highlights the leadership role that ISTs are positioned to have as the new market evolves. The relief runs for five years, and the Commission is seeking public comment on how the framework should evolve.