Bullish to Acquire Equiniti From Siris in $4.2 Billion Deal
Bullish (BLSH) agreed Tuesday to acquire Equiniti Group from private equity firm Siris Capital in a $4.2 billion transaction, positioning the cryptocurrency exchange as what both companies called the first global transfer agent for tokenized securities. BLSH shares jumped nearly 12% on the news.
The deal brings Equiniti’s shareholder registry operations into a cryptocurrency-native platform at a moment when Wall Street firms are racing to tokenize traditional financial instruments.
What the Deal Covers
A GlobeNewswire release published May 5 outlines the transaction structure. Bullish will absorb Equiniti’s transfer agency, employee share plan administration, and regulatory technology businesses.
A separate announcement from Siris confirmed the agreed sale price and said the firm expects the deal to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals in multiple jurisdictions.
Transfer agents, which maintain official ownership records for publicly listed companies, sit at the legal center of equity settlement. By acquiring Equiniti, Bullish gains the infrastructure to issue, track, and settle tokenized versions of traditional securities on a blockchain ledger without routing through legacy intermediaries.
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Background
Bullish launched as a regulated cryptocurrency exchange in 2021, backed by Peter Thiel and Mike Novogratz among others, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023 through a SPAC merger.
The exchange has since pursued an institutional strategy distinct from consumer-focused rivals, emphasizing compliance infrastructure and order-book depth for professional traders.
Equiniti, a British financial services firm founded in 2007 after being spun out of Lloyds TSB, manages shareholder registries for more than 700 UK-listed companies and administers employee equity plans across 50 countries. Siris Capital, a US-based technology-focused private equity firm, acquired Equiniti in 2022 for approximately $2.2 billion, meaning the Bullish deal roughly doubles Siris’s exit valuation in four years.
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What Comes Next
The transaction requires sign-off from regulators in the United States, United Kingdom, and several European markets where Equiniti operates.
Bullish said it plans to maintain Equiniti’s existing client relationships and staffing through the integration period. The combined entity’s ability to service tokenized equity issuances will depend partly on regulatory frameworks for digital securities in each jurisdiction, several of which remain unfinalized.
Approval timelines in the UK, where Equiniti has its deepest operations, could run into early 2027.
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