Hawkeye Digital, Inc. (OTC: HWKE) (“Hawkeye” or the “Company”), a publicly traded private equity incubator and merchant banking platform, announced a partnership with Securitize Corp. (NYSE: SECZ) to tokenize the Company’s common stock on Ethereum. The partnership will provide eligible shareholders a new way to own Hawkeye: real shares, held in digital form, on modern infrastructure.
Unlike synthetic tokens or wrapped products, the tokenized shares will be the same HWKE common stock that trades on OTC Markets. They will carry the same rights as all other common shares, including dividends and voting.
“Tokenization is one of the most important shifts in capital markets infrastructure in decades, and we believe it will become standard for public companies. We’d rather help shape that future than wait for it. Securitize has been instrumental in proving that tokenization works at institutional scale, and its work with some of the world’s largest asset managers has set the benchmark for the industry,” said David Wachsman, President of Hawkeye. “As a firm that invests in and advises businesses at the forefront of the frontier economy, we see tokenizing our own stock with Securitize as a natural extension of what we do.”
Transfers of tokenized shares between eligible holders can settle onchain in near real time, rather than through traditional settlement cycles. Each tokenized holding is recorded onchain and reconciled to the Company’s official shareholder register, making ownership transparent and easy to verify.
“Part of our responsibility to shareholders is making sure they benefit from where markets are heading, not just where they’ve been,” said Hawkeye Chairman Martin Sumichrast. “Tokenization lets us offer that while keeping everything they value intact: the same HWKE stock, the same rights, and full choice over whether to participate.”
“Issuer-sponsored tokenization is fast becoming the standard for public companies, and the momentum is clear, from our role as NYSE’s first digital transfer agent to the growing number of issuers joining our platform. Hawkeye is part of that shift: real stock, tokenized at the source, with its official register intact. We’re excited to help bring their shareholders onchain,” said Billy Miller, COO of Securitize.
Shareholders who want to hold tokenized shares will first move their shares from their brokerage account into direct registration with the transfer agent. From there, they can convert to tokenized form through Securitize’s platform after completing standard identity verification and anti-money-laundering checks. They can also convert back to book-entry form, subject to applicable procedures.
Tokenized shares will be held and transferable within Securitize’s regulated environment. Hawkeye’s common stock will continue to trade on the OTC Markets under the ticker HWKE. Participation is entirely optional, and shareholders who prefer to keep their shares in a brokerage account do not need to take any action.
Tokenized HWKE is expected to become available in 2027. More information, including a shareholder guide covering eligibility and step-by-step onboarding, will be published at www.hwke.com.