Canton Strategic Holdings (NASDAQ: CNTN) said it plans to put its own common stock onchain, with the company sponsoring the tokens itself. The Canton Network investor announced on Oct. 29 that it had reached an agreement with TSV LLC, a permissioned venue for tokenized NMS stocks on Canton, to make its shares tradable there.
The company said trading could begin as early as Monday, Nov. 2. It also said token holders would receive the same rights as owners of CNTN shares on Nasdaq.
The tokens are set to be created as issuer-sponsored stock by Fairmint, an SEC-registered transfer agent. Canton Strategic said Fairmint’s onchain ledger would be the official record of ownership, and every transfer would have to pass its compliance checks.
Why the issuer-sponsored structure matters
Canton Strategic tied the move to what it called the SEC’s Innovation Exemption, the Sept. 17 order that allows permissioned automated market maker venues to trade tokenized NMS stocks.
If an unaffiliated third party tokenizes a company’s stock, the venue must notify that company and wait at least 30 calendar days. If the company objects, the token cannot be listed on the venue. That notice requirement applies only to third-party tokens.
That objection process has already drawn resistance to the tokenized stock venue planned by ICE and OKX from companies including Walmart, Eli Lilly, and Cigna.
In its press release, Canton Strategic said the planned trading is intended to be the first of its kind under the SEC’s new rules for tokenizing onshore U.S. equities. TSV CEO Ali Abrar said in the same release, 「We were the first to formally notify the SEC of our intent to operate a tokenized securities venue.」
The setup matches the model described in September by Securitize President Brett Redfearn, whose firm also tokenizes shares for issuers. Speaking on Unchained, Redfearn said, 「In that setup, the token that you get is the stock,」 and added that the issuer is involved.
How trading is expected to work
TSV plans to place the shares in an automated market maker built on the Tradecraft protocol, which was developed by Obsidian Software. Abrar said in the release that approved participants would be able to provide liquidity and trade at any hour, with every trade settling atomically on the Canton Network.
No trading can begin until both the participant and the participant’s wallet have been cleared. The process includes identity verification and sanctions screening.
The release also said that even with round-the-clock trading, the venue would impose volume caps and risk controls. Trading could also pause for maintenance or for a halt required by regulation.
As of Friday, TSV’s website said trading had not yet started and that launch timing depends on meeting the exemption’s conditions. The site also says TSV is not registered with the SEC for this activity and that the agency has not endorsed it.
