# FairClub Wants Startup Investors to Trade Their Stakes on Solana

> The partnership with Metaplex starts with permissioned ownership and voting rights. Restricted secondary transfers are planned, with more than $85 million in fundraising demand moving through FairClub.

By Eric Spivak · November 9, 2026

Canonical: https://blockster.com/fairclub-metaplex-private-startup-stakes-solana

Backing a startup can mean waiting years for an opportunity to sell. Putting that investment on a blockchain could make ownership easier to manage, but investors still need permission to transfer it—and someone willing to buy.

[FairClub](https://fair.club/) and [Metaplex](https://www.metaplex.com/) are working toward that next step. The companies announced a partnership on November 9 under which FairClub plans to adopt **MPL-3643**, Metaplex’s standard for permissioned assets on Solana.

The first goal is to represent investor stakes and governance rights using tokens with eligibility controls. Restricted secondary transfers would follow as FairClub develops the market infrastructure.

**This is a planned rollout, not the launch of an unrestricted startup-stock exchange.**

## What Investors Hold Today—and What Would Change

FairClub brings investor sourcing, deal rooms, fundraising and governance into one platform, with stablecoin settlement on Solana.

According to the announcement, each raise runs through a **Wyoming special-purpose vehicle**, or SPV: a separate legal entity used for the investment. Investors currently receive a Governance NFT, issued as a Metaplex Core asset, that records their proportional voting rights. Governance and fund management use Realms.

FairClub plans to replace those Governance NFTs with MPL-3643 tokens. The new tokens would carry holder eligibility controls alongside the stake, with voting available through a compatible governance plugin.

The legal rights still depend on the documents governing each investment. Holding a token should not be confused with directly owning common shares in the underlying startup.

Metaplex introduced MPL-3643 in September. The FairClub partnership applies that infrastructure to private fundraising rounds:

[Post from @metaplex on X](https://twitter.com/metaplex/status/2104935742309019933)

## A Token With Rules About Who Can Hold It

MPL-3643 brings functionality comparable to Ethereum’s ERC-3643 standard to Solana. It is designed for assets whose ownership comes with conditions.

Wallets must meet the checks required by the issuer, such as identity verification, anti-money-laundering screening and investor accreditation. Issuers can also configure restrictions such as holder limits and lockups.

For an investor trying to transfer a stake, that means the recipient must qualify and the transaction must satisfy the structure’s rules. Having a Solana wallet alone is not enough.

These are **permissioned private investments**, with a different set of constraints from freely transferable crypto tokens. Technology can enforce configured rules; it does not, on its own, establish that an offering meets every applicable legal requirement.

## $85 Million in Raise Demand, Not Completed Funding

FairClub says its pipeline includes **more than 125 projects**, with **over $85 million being raised** and **16 live deal rooms**. It works with 12 curator partners, including ICM.RUN, Denarii Labs and Superteam Germany, that bring founders and investors to the platform.

Those figures describe fundraising demand and platform activity. They do not mean $85 million has already been invested or settled through FairClub.

The company’s AI matchmaking draws on a graph of more than 110,000 onchain and accredited investor profiles. That database size is also distinct from the number of investors who have participated in its deals.

In an October update, FairClub described Atlas, its investor intelligence product, as drawing on web and onchain information to help founders identify potential backers. That sourcing layer sits alongside the ownership and governance infrastructure contemplated in the Metaplex partnership.

[Post from @fairdotclub on X](https://twitter.com/fairdotclub/status/2114942202375991741)

## The Harder Part Is Building a Market

For founders, the appeal is connecting fundraising with the work that follows it: managing investors, recording rights and running votes. For investors, clearer ownership records could eventually sit alongside a way to sell an eligible stake before a startup exits.

FairClub co-founder Mark Studholme described the partnership as a way to make the relationship after a funding round more transparent, while building toward secondary trading.

> “Metaplex's standard lets us put compliance and governance onto the ownership itself, so investors can see what they hold and have a real say after close. Secondary markets are where we're heading next, and we want to build them properly.”
>
> — Mark Studholme, Co-Founder, FairClub

The next step would allow eligible accredited investors to transfer stakes to one another within the limits of each investment structure. Those transfers would remain restricted, and **liquidity is not guaranteed**. The announcement does not give a firm launch date for secondary trading.

MPL-3643 is currently in limited-access private alpha, with FairClub among its early partners. [Metaplex’s documentation](https://www.metaplex.com/docs/smart-contracts/mpl-3643) describes mainnet early access and notes that the program has not yet been audited.

## Another Piece of Solana’s Tokenization Market

Solana’s tokenization story already includes public-market assets. Blockster recently covered [Securitize’s expansion into Disney, ExxonMobil and other tokenized stocks](https://blockster.com/securitize-disney-exxonmobil-13-tokenized-stocks-solana).

FairClub is addressing a different corner of that market: private startup rounds, where stakes are harder to transfer and buyers face eligibility requirements.

The distinction also matters in projects such as [Hawkeye Digital’s planned issuance of its own shares on Ethereum](https://blockster.com/hawkeye-digital-securitize-hwke-stock-ethereum-2027). A token’s usefulness depends on what it legally represents, who issues it and which rights move with it.

For FairClub and Metaplex, the milestone to watch is a move from ownership records and voting to actual secondary transactions—with eligible holders, clear rights, enforceable restrictions and buyers on the other side.