Ondo & Broadridge add proxy voting to tokenised ETFs

Ondo Finance has partnered with Broadridge to add proxy voting to its tokenised stocks and exchange-traded funds, covering more than 250 tokenised securities on Ondo's platform.

Under the deal, holders of those tokenised stocks and ETFs will also be able to view prospectuses, regulatory filings and other issuer communications linked to the underlying securities. Broadridge will provide the service through a Web3-enabled version of its investor communications and proxy infrastructure.

The move brings a feature of traditional securities markets into a fast-growing corner of digital assets, where tokenised versions of shares and funds have drawn interest from brokers, exchanges and wallet providers. Ondo says its tokenised stock platform accounts for about 70% of the market, with more than USD $700 million in total value locked and tens of thousands of holders.

Broadridge says its updated system lets investors authenticate through digital wallets, receive materials, confirm holdings and submit voting instructions, with a record of the process. The framework is also intended to enable public companies, funds, broker-dealers, wealth managers, and investors to manage voting, disclosures, and corporate actions for both conventional and tokenised securities within existing workflows.

The development also highlights a practical distinction in tokenised equity products. Ondo says its tokens are backed by the corresponding stock or ETF, together with cash in transit, but remain separate from the underlying shares and do not themselves confer direct shareholder rights.

Instead, the voting mechanism gives token holders a way to express preferences to the issuer of the Ondo tokens on how shares beneficially owned by the issuer should be voted. That structure is likely to be closely watched as tokenised securities platforms seek to mirror more of the rights and processes associated with mainstream capital markets while operating on public blockchains.

Market push

Ondo's tokenised stocks are available on Solana, Ethereum and BNB Chain, and are supported by a range of wallets, exchanges, custodians and protocols. The offering is not available in the US and remains subject to restrictions in other jurisdictions.

For Broadridge, the partnership extends a broader digital assets strategy centred on market infrastructure. It already supports the tokenisation of more than USD $8 trillion in assets per month and has been expanding its work in on-chain governance tools and post-trade services for digital assets.

Established providers of investor communications and post-trade systems have been exploring how to adapt existing market plumbing for blockchain-based instruments rather than build wholly separate systems. That approach reflects a wider industry view that tokenised assets will need familiar governance, disclosure and record-keeping standards to gain broader institutional acceptance.

Matthieu de Vergnes, Managing Director and Global Head of Institutional at Ondo Finance, described the partnership as a step towards giving token holders access to governance tools usually associated with conventional securities ownership.

"By working with Broadridge, we are enabling holders of our on-chain tokenised stocks to access governance and voting capabilities, with all the additional benefits on-chain tokens provide," said de Vergnes.

"Ensuring that our clients can participate in corporate governance is another step forward in our goal of bringing institutional-quality financial products on-chain."

Governance tools

Broadridge framed the launch as part of a wider effort to extend long-established investor protections into tokenised markets. Proxy voting, corporate actions, and issuer communications are core components of the listed securities system. Still, they have often been absent or only partially replicated in blockchain-based versions of financial products.

Doug DeSchutter, President of Investor Communication Solutions at Broadridge, said the project marked a shift in how tokenised equities and ETFs can connect to governance systems.

"Today's announcement represents a major milestone in the evolution of tokenised equities and ETFs. Broadridge is proud to expand its voting infrastructure to connect our new Web3-enabled platform with the governance, disclosure, and investor participation standards that underpin modern capital markets," said DeSchutter.

"By introducing proxy voting capabilities to blockchain-based securities, Ondo and Broadridge are helping define the next generation of market infrastructure - one that bridges the investor protections of traditional finance with the programmability and global accessibility of public blockchains."