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Bullish NYSE (BLSH) said it has agreed to acquire Equiniti in a $4.2 billion transaction, positioning the deal as a major step toward building infrastructure for tokenized securities. On a conference call announcing the acquisition, Bullish Chief Executive Officer Tom Farley said the combination would merge Bullish’s blockchain and digital asset capabilities with Equiniti’s role as a global transfer agent for thousands of public companies.
Farley said Equiniti has more than 2,500 public market issuers on its client list, including approximately 35% of the S&P 500 and more than 50% of the FTSE 100.
Bullish Chief Financial Officer Dave Bonanno said the company will acquire Equiniti for $4.2 billion, with closing anticipated in January 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Bonanno said the consideration includes Bullish assuming Equiniti’s $1.85 billion in debt and issuing approximately 61 million new Bullish shares. The shares are valued at about $2.35 billion based on Bullish’s 30-day volume-weighted average price of $38.48 per share. Bonanno said Bullish expects to have approximately 222 million fully diluted shares outstanding after the transaction closes.
Bonanno also said Bullish expects to maintain a net liquid asset position exceeding $500 million after closing at current Bitcoin price levels. He added that Bullish expects “approximately $1 billion of expected free cash flow over the medium-term outlook.”
Farley said blockchain technology represents the next major evolution in market structure. He compared tokenization to the shift from paper-based trading to electronic markets, arguing that tokenized assets can provide always-on infrastructure, instant settlement and programmable corporate actions.
Farley said the global securities market is approximately $270 trillion and that tokenized securities remain in the early stages. He said non-stablecoin tokenized assets have grown by more than 50% since Bullish’s third-quarter earnings call, rising from roughly $20 billion to $30 billion, while remaining small relative to global capital markets.
Farley said Bullish identified three requirements for large-scale adoption of tokenized securities: an end-to-end tokenization stack, a unified ledger connecting traditional finance and blockchain-based assets, and access to a broad base of public company issuers.
He said Equiniti provides issuer relationships and transfer agent infrastructure Bullish did not previously have. Farley said Equiniti has average client relationships of more than 15 years and processes $500 billion in issuer payments per year on behalf of customers.
Farley said transfer agents are central to tokenization because they maintain the official shareholder registry. He said tokenization works best when a token reflects actual legal ownership rather than functioning only as a receipt.
“Without the transfer agent, a token is just a receipt. With the transfer agent, it becomes legal title,” Farley said.
Farley said Bullish and Equiniti have already collaborated on a unified ledger designed to track tokenized shares and certificated shares in real time. He said the ledger is intended to support ownership records, corporate actions, proxy voting and compliance through KYC and AML capabilities.
He also said Bullish’s board has approved tokenizing the company’s entire cap table of shares. Farley said investors would be able to withdraw tokens to a self-custodial wallet if they are whitelisted.
Bonanno said the combined 2026 outlook, excluding synergies, is expected to include $1.3 billion of adjusted total revenue and approximately $500 million of adjusted EBITDA less CapEx.
For 2027 through 2029, Bonanno said Bullish expects total revenue growth to accelerate from approximately 6% to more than 8% compared with combined 2026 financials. He said growth would be driven by approximately 20% growth in tokenization and blockchain services, while traditional transfer agent revenue and interest income are expected to be relatively flat.
Bonanno said Bullish expects $25 million to $50 million of additional cost takeout between 2027 and 2029 compared with combined 2026 results. He said that reflects $50 million to $75 million of cost reductions offset by about $25 million of investment in new infrastructure and product offerings.
He said Bullish expects adjusted EBITDA less CapEx to grow nearly $100 million per year over the medium-term outlook period, with margins of approximately 50% exiting 2029. Bonanno also said the company expects EPS growth of approximately 20% per year and cumulative free cash flow of about $1 billion.
During the question-and-answer session, analysts asked about the pace of tokenization adoption, regulation and competition. Farley said the timeline for adoption remains uncertain, but argued that issuers are dissatisfied with current market infrastructure due to opacity, intermediaries and limited visibility into ownership and trading activity.
On regulation, Farley said passage of the Clarity Act would be positive for adoption because it would help define “what is a security, what is a commodity” and provide rules of the road for regulated market participants. He cautioned that failure to pass a market structure bill could return the industry to a period of ambiguity.
Bonanno said Equiniti currently generates essentially no blockchain revenue, which Bullish views as part of the opportunity. He also said Equiniti’s interest income is tied to float from payments it processes, with the float mix about two-thirds U.S. dollars and more than one-third pounds.
Farley said Bullish does not intend to become a primary listing venue like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. Instead, he said Bullish intends to provide liquidity solutions and secondary trading on regulated venues, along with tokenization services for issuers.
Bullish NYSE (BLSH) develops and operates digital asset market infrastructure, including a cryptocurrency trading platform and related technology services. The company’s stated activities focus on providing exchange services, market structure and trading technology designed to support the listing, execution and clearing of digital assets.
Bullish positions itself as a bridge between traditional capital markets practices and the evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem. The business was announced in connection with Block.one, the software developer known for its work on the EOS blockchain, and was formed with the intent of creating a regulated, institutional-grade marketplace for digital assets.
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