For years, Securitize has argued that the future of finance would involve putting traditional assets on blockchain rails. Beginning today, investors will be able to place that bet in the public markets.
The Miami fintech is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning under the ticker SECZ following its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners II. The transaction is expected to provide approximately $400 million in gross proceeds, with fewer than 30% of SPAC shareholders choosing to redeem their shares before closing, leaving more than 70% of the trust intact.
Today’s milestone is nearly a decade in the making for a company that has become one of the biggest names in one of finance’s fastest-growing sectors.
Founded in 2017 by CEO Carlos Domingo and his team, Securitize built its business around a relatively simple idea: many traditional financial assets, from private funds to credit products, could eventually be issued, owned, and traded using blockchain technology. Rather than chasing the ups and downs of cryptocurrency markets, the company focused on building regulated infrastructure for institutional investors.
That strategy has paid off.
Securitize says it manages more than $4 billion in tokenized assets and counts BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane, BNY, and VanEck among its partners. It also serves as the technology platform behind BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, now the world’s largest tokenized U.S. Treasury fund.
“When we started more than eight years ago, the idea that major institutions would embrace tokenized securities was still largely theoretical,” Domingo said in a statement. “Today, tokenization is moving into the mainstream, and we believe becoming a public company gives us the visibility, credibility, and capital to lead that next phase of growth.”
The public debut comes as tokenization has shifted from an industry buzzword to a growing area of focus for Wall Street. Banks, asset managers, and exchanges have all announced initiatives aimed at bringing traditional financial products onto blockchain infrastructure, betting the technology can improve settlement, increase transparency, and make capital markets more efficient.
Securitize has positioned itself at the center of that shift. Alongside its tokenization platform, the company operates SEC-registered businesses spanning brokerage, transfer agency, fund administration, and investment advisory services in the U.S., while also maintaining licensed digital securities operations in Europe.
For Miami, the listing is notable for another reason. While South Florida has become home to a growing number of venture-backed fintech companies, IPOs remain relatively rare. Securitize’s debut adds another publicly traded company to the region’s technology ecosystem and gives Miami another homegrown success story with global ambitions.
Copenhagen-based tech investment firm A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), whose US headquarters is in Coconut Grove, has invested in Securitize since 2021.
“When we first invested in Securitize, we believed tokenization would fundamentally change how capital moves around the world,” A.GAIN’s co-founder, managing director, and CEO, Bobby Aitkenhead, told Refresh Miami. “Watching the company ring the NYSE Closing Bell is a meaningful milestone, not only for Carlos and his team, but for the entire industry. It’s exciting to see a vision that once seemed ambitious become part of the financial mainstream.”
Aitkenhead added: “We’re equally proud that one of the companies helping lead that transformation was built in Miami, a city that has emerged as a global hub for fintech innovation and ambitious founders.”
Whether tokenized assets ultimately reshape capital markets remains an open question. But today’s NYSE debut suggests one thing is no longer theoretical: Institutional finance is taking the technology seriously, and one of the companies helping lead that shift was built in Miami.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Securitize takes tokenization mainstream with $1.25B SPAC deal
- Securitize’s $47M funding boost led by BlackRock signals a leap forward in asset tokenization
- Global Settlement to launch GSX Identity after acquiring Miami fintechs InvestReady and Accreditoken
- RedStone acquires Security Token Market to build a data backbone for tokenized assets
- As tokenization grows up, here’s how Miami builders are turning blockchain into market infrastructure
- Tokenizing oil: How a Miami startup just redefined cross-border deals in Latin America
