Carlos Domingo, chief govt officer of Securitize Inc., speaks through the Messari Mainnet summit in New York, US, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
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Securitize, the “actual world property” platform that powers BlackRock’s tokenized cash market fund, will go public by means of a merger with a particular function acquisition firm, CEO Carlos Domingo instructed CNBC in an unique interview.
The fintech agency will merge with Cantor Fairness Companions II, Inc., a blank-check firm sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald that trades underneath the CEPT ticker. The deal values Securitize’s enterprise at $1.25 billion in pre-money fairness.
“Tokenization is what all people’s speaking about … however there’s no one publicly traded that does it,” Domingo instructed CNBC. “We’ll do nicely within the public market as a result of folks need to index themselves to tokenization the identical means that individuals are shopping for Circle as a result of they need to index themselves to stablecoins.”
Tokenization refers back to the registration of possession rights to real-world property reminiscent of shares, bonds or gold on a blockchain. The method permits extra clear and around-the-clock buying and selling versus conventional strategies, in keeping with its proponents — amongst whom are Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
Following the merger, the mixed entity Securitize Corp.’s inventory will commerce on the Nasdaq underneath the ticker image SECZ. Shares may start buying and selling on the alternate as quickly as January, in keeping with Domingo.
The corporate will e book $465 million in gross proceeds from the deal. That features $225 million from non-public buyers together with Borderless Capital and Hanwha Funding, and $240 million within the SPAC’s belief account, assuming no redemptions.
RWA tokenization takes off
The deal comes as tokenized RWAs growth. The mixed market worth of tokenized U.S. Treasurys has climbed to roughly $8.6 billion as of writing time, up greater than 200% over the previous yr, in keeping with knowledge supplier RWA.xyz.
The RWA tokenization market as an entire has ballooned 135% over the previous yr and is now value $35 billion, the information reveals. Citi analysts see huge progress for the tokenized RWA market, saying it could grow to almost $4 trillion by 2030.
That positions Securitize — which Domingo says has been worthwhile in latest quarters — to leap into the fray of companies aiming to capitalize on rising demand for digital property. Earlier this yr, Circle debuted on the New York Inventory Change, elevating about $1.1 billion in its blockbuster IPO. Cryptocurrency exchanges Gemini and Bullish additionally went public earlier in 2025.
Tapping public markets will create winners and losers because the digital asset area continues to develop and mature, Domingo added.
“The crypto trade must consolidate,” he mentioned. “For those who’re publicly traded and you’ve got entry to inventory capital markets in addition to money, you could be on the facet that’s consolidating and never be consolidated by anyone else.”
‘A greater ledger’
Based in 2017, Securitize has facilitated a number of giant monetary companies’ first forays into tokenized funds.
In March 2024, BlackRock launched its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) on the Ethereum blockchain in partnership with Securitize, enabling certified buyers to digitally maintain U.S. Treasurys and earn yield. The agency has additionally tokenized greater than $4 billion in property by means of partnerships with Apollo, Hamilton Lane, KKR and VanEck on their tokenized funds.
Securitize is the biggest tokenization platform, dominating 20% of the RWA tokenization market, per RWA.xyz.
The corporate plans to additionally digitize its personal fairness, a transfer designed to exhibit how the general public firm course of and buying and selling can transfer on-chain, Domingo instructed CNBC. The manager sees a future by which all the pieces is introduced on-chain.
“There’s $400 trillion on the market of property that might doubtlessly be tokenized,” Domingo mentioned. “It is an improve … inside the subsequent 5 to 10 years, you will note all the pieces will likely be on-chain, as a result of it is only a higher ledger.”
