Tokenized shares of Galaxy Digital are now getting a governance layer from one of the biggest names in proxy processing.
Broadridge Financial Solutions, one of Wall Street’s biggest back-office names for shareholder voting, is taking its governance tools on a blockchain with Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz’s crypto investment firm.
In a Monday press release, April 6, Broadridge, which works with more than 3,000 U.S. public companies, said that Galaxy Digital will be the first real test. The New York-headquartered crypto firm will use Broadridge’s platform for its annual meeting and shareholder vote in May, the press release reads.
How Tokenized Shares Work
Tokenized shares are basically stocks represented on a blockchain. Instead of only through old-school market plumbing, ownership of these shares happen through crypto wallets.
The catch though is that tokenized stocks are still a messy area. Reuters has reported that many tokenized stock products don’t give buyers normal shareholder rights. Moreover, regulators have warned about investor confusion and weaker protections.
However, last year, Galaxy Digital tokenized its Class A common stock GLXY on Solana with Superstate. At the time, the firm called it the first time a Nasdaq-listed U.S. equity was represented on a public blockchain.
Unlike other tokenized shares, Galaxy Digital pitches its version as real tokenized stock with rights, not just a wrapper that tracks the price.
Broadridge Brings Galaxy Share Voting to Avalanche
Although Galaxy tokenized its shares on Solana, Broadridge says votes will be recorded on its Avalanche-based Layer 1. They will then be “distributed across multiple blockchains,” though it’s not clear which other blockchains will be supported.
Commenting on the collaboration, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said that “bringing proxy voting on-chain for a public company is not theoretical anymore” as both companies look to combine the credibility of traditional market infrastructure with the advantages of blockchain.
According to Dune data compiled by Galaxy Digital, roughly 13,380 tokenized GLXY shares exist among 80 holders on Solana. At current Nasdaq prices, that equals about $240,000.
