On-chain IPOs have moved beyond the proposal stage

French aerospace and defense supplier ST Group completed a tokenized IPO through Paris-based Lightning Stock Exchange, or Lise, in April. The company raised €2.07 million by selling 113,525 shares at €18.25 each.

The transaction operated under the European Union’s Distributed Ledger Technology Pilot Regime. Legal adviser Clifford Chance described the offering as the world’s first fully tokenized IPO in its transaction record.

Unlike many tokenized-stock products, ST Group issued its equity through a blockchain-based market from the initial offering stage. Investors received regulated shares rather than tokens providing only synthetic price exposure.

Crypto.news previously reported that Lise planned to list ST Group through Europe’s first fully on-chain IPO. Completion of the transaction demonstrated that a company can conduct a primary offering through distributed-ledger infrastructure within an established securities regime.

Cantor Fitzgerald and Securitize are also developing regulated infrastructure for blockchain-based capital raising. The companies plan to support IPOs and follow-on offerings while retaining conventional underwriting, compliance and investor-protection processes.

Their partnership, as covered in July, seeks to bring public offerings onto regulated blockchain infrastructure. Neither company has identified the first external issuer that will use the system.

U.S. exchanges are adding tokenized trading rails

The U.S. market is moving through existing exchanges and clearing institutions. The SEC approved Nasdaq’s tokenized-securities pilot on March 18.

The approved order allows eligible participants to trade tokenized versions of selected Russell 1000 securities and major index-linked exchange-traded products.

Tokenized and conventional versions use the same Nasdaq order book. They carry the same ticker, CUSIP, price and shareholder rights. Participants can instruct the Depository Trust Company to settle eligible trades in tokenized form.

Nasdaq’s approved pilot keeps tokenized shares inside the national market system, rather than moving trading to an unrelated crypto venue.

The NYSE filed a similar rule change on April 9. Its SEC filing established a framework for eligible tokenized securities to trade alongside conventional shares under the DTC pilot.

These programs do not amount to native on-chain IPOs. They apply blockchain-based settlement to eligible securities already trading within existing market structures.

DTC conducted live production transactions involving about 40 firms on July 15. The company said those tests moved its tokenization service from development into production activity. A broader service launch is expected in October 2026, according to DTCC’s official update.

Tokenized shares do not always provide ownership

The term “tokenized stock” covers several structures with different legal rights. An issuer can place its official shareholder register on a blockchain, or a third party can issue a token backed by shares held with a custodian.

Another model provides synthetic exposure without transferring ownership in the underlying company. Holders of synthetic products may lack voting rights, dividends or claims against the referenced issuer.

The SEC explained these distinctions in a January statement. Staff divided tokenized securities into issuer-sponsored and third-party-sponsored structures, with the latter including custodial entitlements and synthetic instruments.

The agency said moving ownership records onto a blockchain does not alter the application of federal securities laws. Offers and sales must still be registered unless an exemption applies.

The statement was issued by SEC staff and is not a Commission rule. It carries no independent legal force, but it explains how three agency divisions currently view tokenized securities.

Investor rights remain a central issue. Transfer agents have urged regulators to favor issuer-backed structures, warning that third-party tokens may introduce bankruptcy exposure or provide weaker ownership rights. Crypto.news reported that industry groups asked the SEC to restrict third-party tokenized stocks over those concerns.

On-chain IPO growth still faces practical limits

Blockchain settlement could support fractional shares, programmable compliance and longer trading hours. It may also reduce reconciliation work by allowing participants to use a shared ownership record.

However, tokenization does not automatically eliminate underwriters, auditors, lawyers, transfer agents or regulated intermediaries. Those parties perform functions that extend beyond recording transactions.

Round-the-clock trading also requires continuous liquidity, market surveillance and cash settlement. A token may remain transferable when its underlying market is closed, but limited liquidity can create wider price differences and volatile order books.

Traditional exchanges are testing ways to address that problem. The London Stock Exchange and Kraken parent Payward plan to explore tokenized UK public equities. LSE 24 could support trading in xStocks during 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

In related coverage, the London Stock Exchange proposed bringing major UK-listed shares into the xStocks framework. The project remains under development and does not constitute a confirmed on-chain IPO.

The next measurable milestones are DTCC’s planned October launch, further SEC decisions and the first issuer using the Cantor-Securitize offering system. A large company choosing native blockchain issuance would provide stronger evidence for Zhao’s forecast.

HashKey Cloud will participate in the first Genesis Bond

HashKey Cloud will join the first institutional cohort using Stacks’ new Protocol Bond system. Stacks said in an official announcement that the Genesis Bond was expected to begin around Sept. 10.

The launch date remains an estimate. Stacks has not announced an exact activation time, final capacity or participant allocations. Technical or operational conditions could also alter the schedule.

The first cohort includes institutional participants such as digital asset manager 21Shares and UTXO Management, a subsidiary of Bitcoin treasury company Nakamoto Inc. The Genesis Bond is intended to demonstrate how institutions can earn BTC-denominated rewards without transferring their Bitcoin to a centralized custodian.

Bitcoin committed to the product remains visible on its base blockchain. The arrangement should allow observers to inspect the relevant timelock transactions without relying exclusively on reports from Stacks or participating institutions.

The phrase “Bitcoin staking” requires context. Bitcoin uses proof-of-work and does not support staking through its native consensus system. The Genesis Bond does not change Bitcoin’s consensus rules.

Stacks instead uses Proof of Transfer, commonly called PoX. Stacks miners commit BTC while competing to produce blocks. The protocol distributes part of that Bitcoin to qualifying participants as rewards.

Bitcoin remains under the holder’s keys

Stacks’ PoX-5 design introduces a Protocol Bond that connects two separate commitments. The participant timelocks BTC on Bitcoin’s base layer and locks a corresponding amount of STX on Stacks.

According to the project’s technical documentation, a bond lasts 12 Stacks reward cycles, or approximately six months. The Bitcoin remains in a wallet controlled by the holder’s keys rather than moving to a centralized custodian or wrapped asset.

The participant must also lock STX through a signer-manager contract. The two positions are cryptographically associated and operate together for the bond term.

PoX-5 permits only one active staking position for each Stacks principal. A participant cannot use the same principal for an STX-only position and a Protocol Bond simultaneously. The protocol also prevents one principal from holding two concurrent bonds.

The documentation allows early withdrawal. However, participants leaving before the scheduled end of a term forfeit their remaining rewards for that cycle. Recovering the BTC principal still requires the holder’s signature.

Rewards initially accrue as sBTC. A participant may request native BTC by supplying a Bitcoin payout address, provided the selected signer manager supports base-layer withdrawals.

Native BTC settlement is not available under every configuration. If the withdrawal cannot be processed within the participant’s maximum transaction-fee setting, the payment falls back to sBTC.

As crypto.news reported, Stacks is targeting an annualized Bitcoin yield near 3% during the initial phase. The rate is a protocol target, not a guaranteed return. Actual rewards may vary with miner commitments, available capacity and network conditions.

HashKey Cloud will help secure sBTC transfers

HashKey Cloud will also operate as a signer for sBTC, the Bitcoin-backed asset used within the Stacks ecosystem. Stacks previously confirmed that HashKey Cloud, Ankr and The Tie had joined the signer set.

sBTC is designed to represent BTC on Stacks at a one-to-one ratio. Users can deploy it within Stacks applications while the underlying Bitcoin remains governed by the network’s signer system.

Signers collectively authorize deposits and withdrawals between Bitcoin and Stacks. No individual signer can independently move the BTC backing sBTC.

Stacks said the system maintained a 70% approval threshold throughout the latest signer rotation. Operations such as withdrawals require approval representing at least 70% of participating signer weight.

Adding HashKey Cloud brings an Asia-based infrastructure provider into the signer group. Stacks described the expansion as improving institutional access and distributing operating responsibility across additional companies and regions.

Those benefits remain Stacks’ assessment. A larger signer set does not remove every technical or governance risk associated with sBTC.

Users still depend on enough signers remaining available and following the protocol correctly. Software failures, signer outages or coordination problems could delay deposits and withdrawals. Smart-contract faults could also affect services built around sBTC.

Self-custody reduces exposure to a single custodian, but it does not eliminate risks arising from Stacks contracts, wallet software, signer managers or the sBTC system.

Genesis Bond access will remain limited initially

Stacks plans to introduce Protocol Bonds in stages. Initial Genesis Bond access focuses on institutions and professional market participants rather than unrestricted retail participation.

The project’s staking guidance says bond capacity will be allocated to approved partners during the bootstrap phase. Some capacity may become available through selected pooling providers.

Wallet compatibility is another requirement. Leather and Xverse support PoX-5 functions, while Ledger users need Stacks application version 0.26.15 or later for transactions carrying the new spending conditions.

Participants must also consider the prepare phase at the end of each reward cycle. During the final 100 Bitcoin blocks, the protocol rejects new staking transactions, position updates and withdrawal requests.

HashKey Cloud has not disclosed how much BTC or STX it plans to commit. The company also has not published participation fees, customer eligibility requirements or a list of supported jurisdictions.

Its announcement cautioned that Bitcoin staking services may be unavailable in some regions because of local laws. HashKey Cloud did not guarantee any investment return.

The Genesis Bond’s expected launch is the next event to watch. Confirmation of the activation time, committed Bitcoin, participating institutions and available capacity would provide the first measurable evidence of demand for the product.