Tokenization giant Securitize to go public via $1.25 billion SPAC deal

Securitize is the latest crypto-native firm to announce plans to go public — at a $1.25 billion pre-money equity valuation. The tokenization giant plans to list in the U.S. through a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald.

The combined company, to be renamed Securitize Corp. and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SECZ, also plans to tokenize its own equity.

"This is a defining moment for Securitize and for the future of finance," Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said in a statement. "We founded this company with a mission to democratize capital markets by making them more accessible, transparent, and efficient through tokenization. This is the next chapter in making financial markets operate at the speed of the internet and is another step in our mission to bring the next generation of finance onchain and tokenize the world."

Securitize, founded in 2017 with the goal of modernizing securities, has become the go-to firm for traditional finance institutions from Apollo to VanEck looking to dip their toes in the tokenization sector. Perhaps most notably, the firm issues BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, the first institutional-grade onchain Treasurys product to cross the $1 billion mark.

The entire tokenized Treasurys market is today valued at over $8.5 billion, representing a fraction of the emerging "real-world asset" economy that also includes assets like corporate bonds, private credit, and stablecoins. Securitize has tokenized upwards of $4 billion in assets, and estimates there is a "$19 trillion opportunity in tokenization across equities, fixed income, and alternative assets."

The firm has achieved a degree of vertical integration by becoming the first to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a transfer agent, broker-dealer, alternative trading system, investor advisor, and fund administrator.

Public transaction

As part of the public listing process, Securitize also plans to raise $469 million in gross proceeds to "strengthen the company’s balance sheet" and accelerate its commercial roadmap, the firm said. This capital will come in part from a fully committed $225 million Private Investment in Public Equity transaction, bringing in new investors including Arche, Borderless Capital, Hanwha Investment & Securities, InterVest, and ParaFi Capital. Citi and Cantor are acting as co-placement agents for the PIPE.

Securitize’s existing equity holders, including ARK Invest, BlackRock, Blockchain Capital, Hamilton Lane, Jump Crypto, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, among others, will roll 100% of their interests into the combined company, Securitize announced.

The Block has reached out to Securitize for confirmation about the timing of the public listing. CNBC was first to report the news.