Dinari, tZERO Partner on Tokenized US Stock Framework

Dinari, an issuer of tokenized U.S. equities, and tZERO Group, a blockchain-based financial infrastructure provider, said Wednesday they are partnering to build an operating framework that would let broker-dealers offer tokenized U.S. stocks.

The companies described the effort as a "strategic partnership" in an announcement posted to tZERO's news page. tZERO called itself "a leader in providing B2B and B2B2C partner institutions with a regulated, end-to-end blockchain-based financial infrastructure," while it described Dinari as "the pioneer of the custodial model of tokenized U.S. public equities."

The tie-up extends Dinari's push into regulated tokenized-equity infrastructure. The company secured a U.S. broker-dealer license last year to offer tokenized stocks directly, and in November integrated LayerZero to give cross-chain access to those assets. tZERO, a broker-dealer and alternative trading system operator, brings existing regulatory infrastructure for securities settlement to the partnership.

A Crowded Race

The announcement adds Dinari and tZERO to a widening field of firms building tokenized-stock rails. NYSE has been exploring private blockchains for 24/7 tokenized equity trading, Nasdaq tapped Kraken as a settlement layer for its own tokenized-stock initiative, and Securitize teamed up with Computershare to tokenize U.S.-listed equities.

Neither Dinari nor tZERO disclosed a timeline for launching the joint framework or specified which broker-dealers would use it first. The announcement did not include financial terms of the partnership.