The initiative builds Nasdaq’s equity token design to tokenize equities within regulated markets while preserving issuer control and legal rights, including governance features for investors.

A core focus is corporate governance, with automated proxy voting mechanisms planned alongside dividend distribution via blockchain.

Participation will be voluntary, with ongoing collaboration among issuers, transfer agents, regulators, and other market participants as the framework develops.

Automation of proxy voting and dividends aims to reduce errors and delays by removing manual intermediaries and enabling continuous tokenized trading.

The move reflects broader industry momentum toward tokenizing traditional securities, as other exchanges and institutions explore similar initiatives and regulatory frameworks evolve.

Tokenized stocks settling through DTCC infrastructure could lower cross-border settlement times and costs for international retail investors.

Nasdaq and Kraken are partnering to develop and distribute tokenized versions of public stocks and exchange-traded products globally, leveraging blockchain to streamline corporate actions and connect on-chain records with issuer registries.

The rollout is planned to begin in the first half of 2027 with additional issuer services and distributed ledger functionalities expanding as the framework develops.

The program seeks to enable continuous tokenized trading of traditional stocks while integrating governance features for investors.

Tokenized shares will carry the same governance rights as ordinary shares, including voting in proxies and receiving dividends.

The framework applies to all opting issuers, not only those listed on Nasdaq.

Industry context notes concurrent activity, such as ICE’s investments and plans around tokenized stock initiatives, signaling competitive momentum in tokenized equity.