Bullish has taken a decisive step in its tokenization ambitions by appointing former Galaxy executive Thomas Cowan as its first Head of Tokenization. This move underscores a broader industry trend where the competitive battleground is shifting from crypto trading to the ownership of infrastructure covering issuance, transfer agency, trading, settlement, and market data for tokenized securities. Simultaneously, a transatlantic taskforce of the United States and United Kingdom released a joint statement advocating for regulated stablecoins as a catalyst for more efficient and competitive financial systems.
Cowan arrives with a uniquely specialised resume, having led Galaxy’s institutional tokenization business—including the first Nasdaq-listed company to tokenize its own shares on a major U.S. blockchain, a tokenized liquidity fund with State Street, and a role in launching the euro stablecoin issuer AllUnity. He previously worked on stablecoin strategy at Paxos and contributed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Project Hamilton CBDC research. Bullish CEO Tom Farley stated that Cowan’s expertise “will be instrumental as Bullish works to create the new standard for tokenized securities.”
The appointment aligns with Bullish’s strategy to assemble a vertically integrated platform. Earlier this year, the company agreed to acquire global transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion, securing shareholder registry capabilities. It also received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to offer trading in tokenized securities for eligible non-U.S. investors. Together with CoinDesk’s indices and data services, Bullish aims to replicate the infrastructure of conventional securities markets while rebuilding it around blockchain-native assets.
Across the Atlantic, the U.S. Treasury and HM Treasury on Tuesday published recommendations from the Transatlantic Taskforce for the Markets of the Future. The statement directed the Bank of England, the FCA, the CFTC, and the SEC to develop approaches for treating tokenized assets and to “explore options to facilitate cross-border capital raising.” Crucially, both governments emphasised the need for strong custody, reserve segregation, and consumer protections—including a framework ensuring stablecoin holders have a clear, prioritised legal claim on reserves in insolvency scenarios.
The taskforce’s push comes as the U.S. GENIUS Act reaches its one-year anniversary, with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh confirming during a House hearing that the central bank is “racing” to meet a July 18 deadline to implement related rules. Together, the Bullish hire and the transatlantic recommendations illustrate how tokenization and stablecoin regulation are converging to define the next phase of institutional crypto infrastructure.
