Today, Bullish and @Equiniti launched the Issuer Sponsored Token Coalition. @AlpacaHQ, @ApexFintech and @DriveWealth are the first participants, bringing together leading brokerage, trading and market infrastructure firms to help advance issuer-sponsored tokenized securities. The coalition will develop the technical standards, infrastructure and operating frameworks needed for issuer-sponsored tokenized securities to scale alongside, and interoperate with, existing capital markets. The launch follows the SEC’s Sept. 17 Innovation Exemption, a five-year framework for on-chain trading of tokenized U.S.-listed stocks. Under the framework, venues must verify that token holders receive the same rights as holders of the underlying shares, while issuers can object to third-party tokenization. Issuer-sponsored tokens meet that standard by design. They are issued with the issuer's participation and connect directly to its shareholder register, preserving shareholder rights, corporate-action entitlements and investor protections. The coalition is open and non-exclusive, with additional participants to be announced in the coming weeks.