Bullish’s New President Backs Issuer-First Model for Tokenized Stocks

Digital asset platform Bullish (NYSE: $BLSH) plans to build its tokenized stock business around the companies that issue the shares, new President Stacey Cunningham said Tuesday, as major public companies push back against venues that tokenize their stock without their involvement.

Cunningham, who led the New York Stock Exchange from 2018 to 2022 and joined Bullish this week, argues that issuers are too often left out of tokenization efforts. The approach contrasts with the planned OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: $ICE) venue, where 56 of the 62 companies initially selected had objected as of Nov. 6, including Apple (NASDAQ: $AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: $AMZN) and Tesla (NASDAQ: $TSLA).

According to the interview, which was conducted by CoinDesk, a unit of Bullish, Cunningham said much of today’s tokenization is synthetic and does not include issuers in the conversation. She said tokenization is no longer a question of whether it happens, only how long it takes, and that she is confident adoption will be fast once issuers see the value.

Bullish’s strategy rests on its planned $4.25 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti, which is expected to close in January 2027, pending regulatory approvals. Equiniti works with nearly 3,000 corporate issuers and more than 20 million shareholders. Transfer agents keep the official record of share ownership, a role that would matter if companies issue tokenized shares carrying the same rights as traditional stock. Cunningham said Bullish would have all the pieces, including an exchange, custody, an automated market maker and indices, once the deal closes.

Bullish has begun testing the model with its own shares. It tokenized its stock on Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) earlier this year and in October demonstrated the transfer of 61 million reserved tokenized shares, administered by Equiniti, at an event at the NYSE. The company has named Solana, Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) and Aptos (CRYPTO: $APT) as networks for its tokenization services.

Cunningham also said the company does not need new U.S. crypto legislation to move forward. Asked about the stalled CLARITY Act, she said Bullish can build and offer solutions without it and is not worried.

Analysts are positive on the stock. StoneX initiated coverage of Bullish with a Buy rating and a $42 price target on Monday, about 89% above Tuesday’s close of $22.19, according to Cryptoprowl’s stock ratings.