NYSE taps Wall Street giant Broadridge to bring shareholder voting onto blockchain rails

The New York Stock Exchange has selected Broadridge Financial Solutions to provide shareholder voting and transfer agency services for its planned tokenized stock trading platform. This partnership represents a significant step in bringing traditional Wall Street infrastructure onto blockchain networks.

Broadridge will supply onchain governance and digital transfer agency services, helping public companies manage shareholder records, communications and voting as their stocks move onto blockchain rails. The exchange aims to bring stock trading onto blockchain networks, potentially allowing shares to change hands around the clock.

Making blockchain trading work requires more than just trading technology. Companies still need to track who owns their shares, distribute dividends and let investors vote on corporate decisions. Broadridge is a giant in market plumbing, serving over 10,000 public companies across the globe and settling over $15 trillion in securities trades daily.

Shareholder rights onchain

Broadridge will connect tokenized shares with proxy voting, shareholder communications and verified ownership records. Investors will be able to vote through supported digital wallets, brokerage platforms or Broadridge's existing ProxyVote service.

Transfer agents play a key role in this process, maintaining shareholder records and tracking changes in ownership as securities change hands. Tokenization specialist Securitize and tZERO are also set to provide transfer agency services for the NYSE's platform, according to previous announcements.

Wall Street's tokenization race

The NYSE is one of several Wall Street institutions building blockchain-based stock markets. Rival Nasdaq is also developing its own tokenized securities infrastructure, including a partnership with Kraken's parent company to distribute blockchain-based shares globally.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which sits at the heart of U.S. securities clearing and settlement, unveiled its own tokenization platform last week. The platform allows eligible firms to convert stocks, ETFs and U.S. Treasuries held at its depository into blockchain-based tokens, preserving existing shareholder rights.

Meanwhile, the SEC's innovation exemption opened a separate path for select blockchain-based venues to trade tokenized versions of stocks via automated market makers, with issuers able to opt out. One such project involves crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE's parent company.