The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is bringing on a Wall Street heavyweight to help build the plumbing for its planned tokenized securities platform. On November 2, 2026, the exchange announced it has tapped Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (BR) to provide on-chain shareholder governance and digital transfer agency services, a critical move to ensure digital shares carry the same rights as traditional ones.
This partnership, confirmed by both NYSE Group President Lynn Martin and Broadridge CEO Tim Gokey, aims to solve one of the biggest challenges for tokenized assets: how to manage core investor rights like proxy voting and shareholder communications on a blockchain. The collaboration marks a significant step in the NYSE’s strategy to create a regulated venue for 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks.
Bridging Wall Street infrastructure with NYSE tokenized securities
Broadridge isn’t a crypto startup. It’s a foundational piece of market infrastructure, settling over $15 trillion in securities trades daily and serving more than 10,000 public companies. Bringing this level of institutional experience into the fold is a clear signal of the NYSE’s intent to build a platform that mirrors the reliability of traditional markets.
The firm will provide what it calls a “governance layer for tokenized equities.” This means using smart contracts to link digital tokens to company meeting agendas, voting rules, and verifiable results.
The goal is to ensure that owning a tokenized share of a company feels exactly like owning a traditional share, with all the associated rights. Many crypto collaborations are aimed at this kind of integration.
“Broadridge is building the governance layer for tokenized equities, ensuring investors have access to trusted, institutional-grade governance,” said Tim Gokey, CEO of Broadridge. “We’re pleased to bring these capabilities to the NYSE’s tokenized securities platform.” He emphasized this will make it easier for issuers to participate in the new market.
The partnership integrates several key functions: stock tokenization, transfer agency services, shareholder communications, proxy voting, and digital identity capabilities. This comprehensive approach is designed to create a seamless experience for both companies listing their shares and the investors trading them on the new platform.
What the partnership means for issuers and investors
For public companies, this move is designed to lower the barrier to entry for tokenization. Instead of building a bespoke system for on-chain governance, issuers can rely on Broadridge’s established infrastructure. Gokey noted the aim is a single solution “regardless of how shares are traded or where they are held.”
Investors, in turn, will have multiple avenues to exercise their rights. They can participate in corporate votes through supported digital wallets, traditional broker interfaces, or Broadridge’s existing ProxyVote service. This flexibility is crucial for encouraging mainstream adoption by not forcing investors into unfamiliar, crypto-native-only workflows.
Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE Group, highlighted the potential of the technology. “Tokenization has the potential to transform the manner in which issuers interact with their shareholders,” she said. “Onboarding Broadridge’s digital transfer agency service marries trust and innovation.”
This “marrying of trust and innovation” is central to the entire project. While the promise of blockchain includes efficiency and 24/7 markets, it cannot come at the expense of the fundamental governance rights that underpin corporate ownership. The technical framework will distribute proxy materials and authenticate digital wallets against verified voting entitlements.
A growing ecosystem for NYSE’s digital asset ambitions
Broadridge is the latest, but not the only, partner in the NYSE’s digital asset strategy. The exchange is methodically assembling a team of specialists to build out its platform. In March, the NYSE tapped Securitize as its first digital transfer agent, making it eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for issuers.
Along with Securitize, the crypto and tokenization firm tZERO has also been named as a transfer agency provider for the platform. These firms are focused on the creation and record-keeping of the digital assets themselves. Broadridge’s role is distinct, focused specifically on the governance layer that sits on top of those tokenized shares.
This division of labor shows a sophisticated understanding of the challenges. One set of partners creates the assets, while another ensures those assets have the same legal and functional rights as their traditional counterparts.
This modular approach allows the NYSE to integrate best-in-class providers for each component of the digital asset lifecycle, from issuance to voting. The questions around decentralized governance are complex, and this partnership provides a clear, institutional answer.
Broadridge itself has been expanding its own blockchain business through its DLX tokenization platform. The company also operates a Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) network that already processes more than $360 billion in transactions daily, demonstrating its capacity to handle high volumes on-chain.
A crowded race to tokenize traditional finance
The NYSE’s push into tokenization is not happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a broader race among major financial institutions to build the next generation of market infrastructure. The exchange’s chief rival, Nasdaq, is also deep into developing its own tokenized securities infrastructure, which includes a partnership with Kraken’s parent company to distribute blockchain-based shares globally.
Meanwhile, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which sits at the very heart of the U.S. securities settlement system, recently unveiled its own tokenization platform. The DTCC’s service allows eligible firms to convert stocks, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries into tokens on the Canton Network and its private Besu blockchain.
Its focus is more on custody and transfers rather than open trading, but it represents another powerful incumbent moving onto the blockchain.
These exchange-led projects are distinct from other tokenization efforts. One such venture involves crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the NYSE’s own parent company. That initiative, however, which plans to use automated market makers (AMMs), has seen pushback from major corporations like Nvidia and Costco.
The competitive dynamic is heating up, with some analysts believing a tokenized stock venue from Canton could gain an edge.
This flurry of activity underscores a consensus forming on Wall Street: tokenization is no longer a question of if, but when. The primary challenge now is how to implement it in a way that satisfies regulators, serves issuers, and protects investors. Each major player is placing its bets on different technologies and partnership models.
The road ahead: Regulatory approval and future outlook
Despite the high-profile partnership and technological development, the NYSE’s tokenized securities platform has one major hurdle left to clear: regulatory approval. No firm launch date has been announced, and the entire project remains contingent on getting the green light from financial authorities. This cautious approach is typical for an institution as central to the financial system as the NYSE.
The initial plan, outlined in January, called for 24/7 trading of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs with instant settlement and stablecoin-based funding. The vision is ambitious, aiming to accommodate both tokenized versions of existing securities and new securities issued natively as digital tokens on the blockchain.
The addition of Broadridge provides a robust answer to the critical question of shareholder rights within that futuristic framework. By building on Broadridge’s existing proxy voting systems, the NYSE is creating a hybrid model that connects the new world of digital wallets with the established processes of corporate governance.
Ultimately, this partnership is less about a single technology and more about building a bridge. It connects the deeply entrenched infrastructure of Wall Street with the potential efficiencies of blockchain. While the full realization of tokenized stock trading is still some ways off, the assembly of key players like Broadridge signals that the foundational work is well underway.