coindesk.com
Tokenization firm tZERO plans to go public through a merger with blank-check company FG Imperii Acquisition Corp. (FGII), taking its blockchain-based securities infrastructure business to the U.S. stock market.
The deal values tZERO at $350 million, the companies announced in a statement shared with CoinDesk on Monday. The transaction could provide up to $231 million in SPAC trust cash, subject to shareholder redemptions and expenses.
The combined company plans to trade on NYSE American under the ticker TZRO.
The plan comes as tokenization gains traction across Wall Street, with banks and asset managers exploring how to put stocks, bonds and funds on blockchain rails. Citi estimates the market could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, drawing more interest to the infrastructure needed to issue, trade and settle those assets.
tZERO has been working in blockchain-based securities markets since 2014, years before the current wave of institutional tokenization projects. Its regulated subsidiaries provide trading, brokerage, custody and transfer agent services for digital securities. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange parent (NYSE), is among the investors in tZERO and selected the firm as one of the design partners for the NYSE’s blockchain-based securities trading platform.
"Global and domestic institutions want to offer tokenized products under their own brands, with control over their customer relationships. tZERO provides the end-to-end infrastructure behind those offerings," CEO Alan Konevsky told CoinDesk. "This proposed transaction is intended to give us greater access to capital to scale that Infrastructure-as-a-Service model."
The company also holds more than 100 blockchain-related patents covering tokenization and securities infrastructure. Those intellectual property holdings have become a source of contention, as tZERO is in a legal dispute with rival tokenization firm Securitize (SECZ) over patents.
Existing tZERO shareholders are expected to retain their equity in the combined company, the company said, while investors representing about 62% of its fully diluted capital have signed support agreements.
The deal is expected to close in early 2027, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals, the firm said. Konevsky is expected to remain CEO.
