The merger with Cantor Equity Partners II (Nasdaq: CEPT), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was announced on October 28, 2025. Shareholders approved all key proposals on June 29, 2026, sending CEPT shares up roughly 20% on the day. The combination raised $225 million through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) round that was oversubscribed, and fewer than 30% of CEPT Class A shares were redeemed, meaning 71.5% of the trust capital carried through into the new entity.

Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, acknowledged the deal defied conventional SPAC expectations. "Don't do it. You won't raise a PIPE, and SPACs get on average 95% redemptions, and you will IPO with no cash," he said, recounting the advice he received before pursuing the route. The outcome was the opposite: an oversubscribed PIPE and a retention rate well above the industry average. Domingo framed the listing as a turning point for the broader industry. "Today, tokenization is moving into the mainstream, and we believe becoming a public company gives us the visibility, credibility, and capital to lead that next phase of growth," he said.

Founded in 2017 by Carlos Domingo and Jamie Finn, Securitize operates as a regulated broker-dealer, transfer agent, alternative trading system, and digital securities custodian, operating under US SEC registration. The platform currently holds more than $4 billion in assets under management across 650-plus funds, and its institutional client roster includes Apollo, BlackRock, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck. BlackRock and ARK Invest are also equity investors in Securitize, a distinction worth noting when assessing the alignment between the platform and its institutional partners. Its most prominent product is the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity fund, known as BUIDL, which Securitize tokenized when BlackRock launched it as its first public blockchain-issued tokenized fund in March 2024. BUIDL has since grown to approximately $3.07 billion, making it the largest tokenized financial product on public blockchains. The fund now runs across eight networks including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and BNB Chain.

The listing arrives at a moment when on-chain tokenized assets are scaling rapidly. According to data from RWA.xyz, total global on-chain real-world asset value stands at roughly $31 billion as of mid-2026, up approximately five times over two years. Tokenized US Treasuries alone account for more than $14 billion, while active on-chain private credit exceeds $18.9 billion with cumulative originations of $33.7 billion. Tokenized corporate bonds represent around $1.77 billion. In widely cited research notes, Citi has projected the total tokenized asset market could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, while Standard Chartered has put the 2028 figure at $2 trillion.

For readers outside the United States, the most immediate practical connection to Securitize's infrastructure runs through BNB Chain and Binance. When BUIDL expanded to BNB Chain in November 2025, it also became accepted as collateral on Binance, a platform with dominant retail penetration across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Binance users can post BUIDL tokens as collateral on the Binance platform, gaining exposure to the fund's dollar yield profile, though they cannot invest directly in BUIDL through Securitize without meeting accredited investor criteria. The accredited investor threshold remains the central friction point between the platform's institutional-grade offerings and the mass-market audiences in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Analysts, including Jesse Knutson of BitFinex, argue these populations stand to benefit substantially from dollar-denominated yield products given local currency pressures, as part of the broader emerging-market leapfrog thesis for tokenized finance. PIPE investors in the deal included South Korea's Hanwha Investment and Securities, among others: the full roster of named participants from SEC EDGAR filings also includes Arche, Borderless Capital, InterVest, and ParaFi Capital. Hanwha's participation signals that Asian institutional capital is actively co-investing in US-listed tokenization infrastructure rather than only observing from the sidelines.

The regulatory environment is also shifting in ways that matter beyond US borders. On January 28, 2026, three SEC divisions issued a joint statement confirming that tokenized securities remain subject to existing federal securities law, providing clearer operating ground for compliant platforms. The EU's DLT Pilot Regime has already granted Securitize authorisation as an investment firm under that framework. Equivalent frameworks in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa remain at early stages, though South Africa has been actively pursuing a use-case-driven approach to tokenization regulation that could position it as a regional template. A NYSE listing adds transparency obligations and public reporting that analysts suggest could, over time, support broader cross-border recognition of Securitize's infrastructure. According to observers at Dubai's RWA Week 2026, the Gulf's VARA and ADGM frameworks are among the most developed outside the US and EU, positioning the region as a potential distribution hub for tokenized products reaching investors from South Asia and East Africa. Whether public market status translates into genuine access expansion for those users will be the more consequential measure of this deal.