Tokenized Stocks Take Next Step With First On-Chain Vote for Galaxy Shareholders

Tokenized equities are getting a utility boost, soon enabling proxy voting in an annual shareholder vote for equity holders of Galaxy (GLXY).

Holders of the tokenized version of GLXY will be able to participate in the vote in May via Broadridge’s tokenized governance platform, built on top of the firm’s own Avalanche-powered layer-1 network. 

“We’ve long believed that tokenization will reshape capital markets, and this is a meaningful step towards a tokenized equity market,” said Galaxy CEO and founder Mike Novogratz, in a statement. “Proxy voting is a core feature of equity ownership, and bringing proxy voting on-chain for a public company is not theoretical anymore.”

Broadridge will integrate its ProxyVote platform into digital wallets, where investors can submit their votes as well as receive investor materials. 

“Ensuring accurate, scalable, and cost-effective governance has never been more critical to supporting the growth of tokenized equities,” said Broadridge CEO Tim Gokey, in a statement. 

Earlier this month, the Nasdaq received formal approval from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to trade tokenized stocks in a pilot program. That comes shortly after major crypto firms—including Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance—have fueled their own tokenization initiatives aimed at connecting them to more structured and traditional financial products. 

But the trend is not advancing without some caution. On Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in a new report that the growth of tokenized finance could amplify a financial crisis.

Shares of Broadridge (BR) and Galaxy (GLXY) are up 0.8% and 1.79% respectively on the day, recently changing hands at $161.91 and $17.96. Representatives for the firms did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.