42억 달러에 Equiniti 인수, Bullish RWA 1경 원 블루오션에 베팅
- 핵심 의견: 미국 상장 암호화폐 플랫폼 Bullish가 42억 달러에 전통적인 양도 대리 서비스 제공업체 Equiniti를 인수했습니다. 이는 규제를 받는 양도 대리, 암호화폐 거래 플랫폼, 미디어 데이터를 통합하여 종합적인 토큰화 인프라를 구축하고, 전통 자산 토큰화라는 1경 원 규모의 블루오션 시장을 선점하기 위함입니다.
- 핵심 요소:
- 총 인수 대가는 42억 달러로, 18억 5천만 달러의 부채 인수와 23억 5천만 달러의 주식으로 구성되며, 규제 승인을 전제로 2027년 1월 완료될 예정입니다.
- Equiniti는 약 3,000개 상장 기업에 양도 대리 서비스를 제공하며, 2,000만 명 이상의 주주를 관리하고 연간 약 5,000억 달러의 지급액을 처리하는 등 성숙된 규제 준수 프레임워크를 갖추고 있습니다.
- 인수 후 합병 법인의 2026 회계연도 조정 총 수익은 약 13억 달러로 예상되며, 2027-2029년 토큰화 및 블록체인 서비스가 연간 복합 수익 성장률의 20%를 기여할 것으로 보입니다.
- Bullish CEO는 토큰화가 "자본 시장의 세대적 전환"이라고 강조하며, 이번 인수를 통해 종합 서비스, 통합 원장, 우량 발행사 관계라는 세 가지 요소를 한 번에 확보했다고 밝혔습니다.
- 합병 후 Bullish는 거래 수익 중심에서 고마진 인프라 서비스로 전환하여 경기 방어력을 강화할 것이며, 발표 후 주가는 일시 11% 이상 상승했습니다.
Original author: Ma He, Foresight News
On May 5, US-listed crypto asset platform Bullish entered into a definitive agreement with private equity firm Siris Capital to acquire Equiniti for a total consideration of $4.2 billion. The transaction consists of assuming $1.85 billion of Equiniti's existing debt and approximately $2.35 billion in Bullish stock consideration. The stock issuance price is based on the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $38.48 per share over the 30 trading days prior to the close on May 4, 2026. The transaction is subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
The transaction is expected to close in January 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Following the announcement, Bullish's stock price rose to a high of $48.93, an increase of over 11%.
Equiniti: The Core "Household Registration Management" Service Provider of Traditional Capital Markets
Founded in the late 19th century, Equiniti is a transfer agent and shareholder services provider. It primarily offers core services for listed companies, including managing registered shareholder records, stock issuance/transfer/cancellation, dividend distribution and reinvestment, shareholder communication, corporate action processing, and tax filing.
Equiniti currently acts as a transfer agent for nearly 3,000 listed companies, serves over 15,000 corporate clients, manages more than 20 million verified shareholders, and processes approximately $500 billion in payments annually.
Equiniti is registered as a transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, possessing a mature compliance framework and cross-market operational capabilities.
In 2021, Siris Capital acquired Equiniti and merged it with its US peer AST, forming a large-scale global transfer agent platform.
Acquisition Logic Directly Targets the Trillion-Dollar Tokenization Blue Ocean
Upon completion of the acquisition, Bullish will own the trading platform Bullish Exchange, media outlet CoinDesk, and end-to-end tokenization infrastructure services.
According to its Q4 2025 financial report, Bullish reported adjusted revenue of $92.5 million, a significant year-over-year increase (compared to $55.2 million in the same period of 2024); adjusted EBITDA reached $44.5 million, a substantial year-over-year improvement, with a gross margin of 48%. Full-year adjusted revenue was approximately $288.5 million, up about 35% year-over-year. Subscription, service, and other revenue reached $54.6 million in Q4 alone, a surge of 284% year-over-year, driven by the launch of options trading, growth in institutional client funds, and the expansion of tokenization liquidity services. On February 5, its stock price hit a low of $24.79. After the earnings report, it rose for two consecutive days, briefly touching $32.
After the transaction closes, the combined Bullish and Equiniti entity is expected to generate approximately $1.3 billion in adjusted total revenue for the 2026 fiscal year.
From 2027 to 2029, the combined company is expected to achieve a compound annual revenue growth rate of 6% to 8%, with tokenization and blockchain services contributing a 20% growth rate to revenue.
In March of this year, Bullish's total trading volume was $60.4 billion, a significant decrease of about 28% compared to $84.1 billion in February. However, Bullish's March perpetual contract volume reached $4.4 billion, hitting a new high since May 2025, achieving counter-trend growth despite the overall decline in total trading volume.
Within the crypto ecosystem, RWA is already seen as the next trillion-dollar track. The bottlenecks of traditional transfer agents include manual processing, settlement delays, and high costs. Blockchain technology enables instant ownership transfer, fractional ownership, and global 24/7 liquidity.
Bullish's move could be seen as the crypto industry's response to traditional giants like BlackRock and BNY Mellon laying out their RWA strategies, first integrating "regulated transfer agent + crypto exchange + media/data" into a closed-loop ecosystem.
Tom Farley, former President of the New York Stock Exchange and current CEO of Bullish, emphasized in the announcement: "Tokenization represents a generational shift in how capital markets operate, the most defining infrastructure trend of the next 25 years. Institutional-grade mass adoption requires three elements: end-to-end tokenization services, a single unified ledger, and scaled blue-chip issuer relationships. This merger delivers all three in one go."
This also signals that Bullish will gradually shift from a model dominated by trading revenue towards high-margin infrastructure services, potentially significantly enhancing its ability to withstand economic cycles.
