Alpaca and
Broadridge Financial Solutions said today (Monday) they integrated Broadridge’s
shareholder governance platform into Alpaca’s Instant Tokenization Network.
The deal
adds proxy voting, investor communications and voting entitlement
reconciliation for holders of tokenized and traditional equities on Alpaca’s
brokerage infrastructure.
Alpaca, a US-based self-clearing broker-dealer, will
keep providing custody and clearing for the underlying shares, the companies
said. Broadridge, a New York fintech listed on the
NYSE, will handle governance services, including regulatory disclosures tied to
stock ownership.
Governance Gap Widens as
Tokenized Shares Multiply
The
partnership targets a structural problem that has followed tokenized equities
since the format’s earliest offerings. When a stock exists as a token rather
than a book entry at a broker, the usual mechanics for delivering proxy ballots
and dividend notices do not automatically carry over.
Alpaca launched its Instant Tokenization
Network in October,
letting institutions swap shares for tokens and back without a cash leg.
Governance had remained a missing piece of that structure.
Alpaca
Co-Founder and CEO Yoshi Yokokawa said the companies are “combining modern
tokenization infrastructure with trusted governance capabilities.”
As
tokenized assets are issued and held across multiple blockchain networks and
intermediaries, keeping shareholder records and voting entitlements consistent
gets harder, the companies said.
Broadridge’s
platform is meant to reconcile those records for both registered and beneficial
holders regardless of where the tokens sit.
Broadridge Extends a
String of Governance Deals
This is not
Broadridge’s first push into tokenized share governance this year. Ondo Finance partnered with
Broadridge in July
to add proxy voting and shareholder communications to its SEC-aligned tokenized
US securities, a structure that keeps underlying shares inside the existing
custody system while recording ownership on the blockchain.
A different
governance model has emerged elsewhere in the market. Computershare, one of the
largest transfer agents in the United States, agreed in late April to record
Issuer-Sponsored Tokens directly on its own books through a partnership with
Securitize, letting public companies issue tokenized shares alongside
conventional ones.
That
approach ties governance to the transfer agent rather than to a voting platform
layered on top of custodial tokens, the model Alpaca and Broadridge are using.
Broadridge’s
tokenization push also includes its Distributed Ledger Repo platform, which the company said settles
tokenized real assets worth more than $357 billion a day. Broadridge has not
disclosed the methodology behind that figure.
Alpaca Expands Balance
Sheet Behind Tokenization Push
Alpaca has
been raising capital to build out that infrastructure. The company disclosed a $435 million financing
package on Friday,
including $300 million in debt from Kraken parent Payward and Canadian bank
BMO, days before announcing the Broadridge integration.
That
followed a $150 million Series D round in
January that valued
Alpaca at $1.15 billion.
Alpaca’s
own materials describe the company as backed by $400 million in funding, a
figure that predates the $435 million package the company disclosed last week.
Alpaca said it now supports more than 10 million brokerage accounts for
fintechs and institutions in more than 40 countries.
Retail and Institutional
Investors Get Separate Access Points
Under the
agreement, institutional investors can route votes on tokenized holdings
through their existing governance workflows, including voting choice programs,
the companies said. Retail investors would access eligible shareholder meetings
through Broadridge’s ProxyVote.com service.
Doug
DeSchutter, president of Broadridge’s Investor Communication Solutions
business, said the arrangement is meant to bring “accurate voting,
specialized investor experiences, and regulatory disclosures” to token
holders.
The
structure follows guidance the SEC issued in January distinguishing
issuer-sponsored tokenized securities from third-party models such as the one underlying
Alpaca’s network. Both structures remain subject to existing securities and
derivatives laws, the regulator said.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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