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The Largest Securities Exchange in the World is Coming Onchain | Michael Blaugrund of NYSE and Carlos Domingo of Securitize

April 7, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The tokenized treasury market has grown from $300 million to $11 billion in two years. That is the fastest-growing segment in all of crypto. And yet, as Michael Blaugrund of the New York Stock Exchange and Carlos Domingo of Securitize explain, that is still scratching the surface. If just one or two percent of global equities moved on-chain, it would double the size of the entire crypto market. The two executives joined Bankless to announce a partnership that aims to make that happen: Securitize has been named the first digital transfer agent for the NYSE, and the exchange is building a new alternative trading system (ATS) for tokenized equities.

What a Digital Transfer Agent Actually Does

Every publicly traded company or ETF has a transfer agent — a regulated entity that keeps the official record of who holds the securities. In traditional markets, that record lives at the DTCC, and most retail investors never see it. When you hold shares on Robinhood, you do not actually own the shares directly; the shares sit under the central securities depository. A digital transfer agent does the same job but uses public blockchains as its ledger instead of a traditional database. Securitize has been a registered transfer agent since 2019, and the NYSE has now named it the first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Tokenization Market Growth & Episode Setup** - Hosts introduce guests Carlos Domingo (Securitize) and Michael Blaugrund (NYSE) to discuss the partnership for tokenized securities on public blockchains.
  • 2 (01:39) **What is a Digital Transfer Agent?** - Carlos explains the role of a transfer agent in traditional securities and how Securitize acts as a "digital" one using public blockchains.
  • 3 (06:47) **Native vs. Synthetic Tokenized Securities** - The key distinction between a token that *is* the equity and a token that merely represents an IOU.
  • 4 (08:37) **Chain Agnosticism & Issuer Choice** - Securitize supports multiple public blockchains, and the issuer decides where their security lives.
  • 5 (11:00) **The NYSE Affiliated ATS: Structure & Mechanics** - Michael describes the new alternative trading system (ATS) for tokenized equities.
  • 6 (15:10) **Aggregation & Interoperability** - The ATS acts as an aggregator for tokenized securities from multiple blockchains.
  • 7 (18:26) **Timeline for Ubiquity** - A discussion on how quickly all US equities could be available on-chain.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Carlos Domingo

Show Notes

NYSE and Securitize are laying the rails to bring real, issuer-backed securities onchain. 


Michael Blaugrund of NYSE and Carlos Domingo of Securitize break down how blockchain-native equities could work in practice: transfer agents, tokenized issuance, interoperable trading infrastructure, 24/7 markets, and what it will take for public stocks to move from legacy rails to crypto rails. T


They also explore how onchain equities could unlock faster settlement, better shareholder utility, and new DeFi use cases without sacrificing regulatory compliance.


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TIMESTAMPS


0:00 Intro

0:52 NYSE x Securitize Partnership

4:57 Digital Transfer Agent

8:39 Blockchain Infrastructure

11:07 NYSE Alternative Trading System

17:01 Every NYSE Asset?

22:30 Portability & KYC

33:38 RWA Decentralization Debate

38:47 New NYSE Paradigm

44:46 24/7 365 Markets

48:03 Clarity Act

52:21 Issuer Choice

57:08 Tokenized Securities vs Perpetuals

1:00:24 Securitize Going Public

1:03:20 When Launch

1:04:04 Closing & Disclaimers


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RESOURCES


Carlos Domingo

https://x.com/carlosdomingo 

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