If Hawkeye Digital puts a proposal to a shareholder vote, an investor who holds HWKE on Ethereum would have the same say per share as one who holds it through a broker. That’s the detail that matters in Hawkeye’s November 6 agreement with Securitize. The Miami Beach firm plans to offer its existing common stock in digital form, with tokenized shares expected in 2027.
Hawkeye, which invests in and advises businesses working in digital assets and emerging technologies, will continue to trade on OTC Markets under HWKE. Shareholders who prefer their brokerage account can leave their shares there. For those who opt in, the main change is how ownership is recorded and how quickly shares can move to another eligible holder.
Whose name goes on the shareholder register?
The industry calls this issuer-sponsored tokenization. In plain English, Hawkeye itself is authorizing the digital form of its stock. Each tokenized holding will be recorded on Ethereum and reconciled with Hawkeye’s official shareholder register. That register is the company’s record of who owns its shares. A transfer agent maintains it as ownership changes.
That job matters long after a trade settles. If Hawkeye declares a dividend, holders of tokenized HWKE will have the same entitlement per share as other common shareholders. If Hawkeye calls a vote, the same voting rights apply. Securitize recently joined other transfer agents in asking the SEC to update its rules for an industry that can now keep ownership records on a blockchain.
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How a shareholder would move HWKE onto Ethereum
Under the plan, an eligible investor would first ask their broker to move their shares into direct registration. That puts the investor’s name on the company’s books. After completing identity and anti-money-laundering checks, the investor could convert those shares to tokenized form through Securitize.
From there, a transfer to another eligible holder could settle in near real time. That’s the time it takes to complete the change in ownership once a transfer goes ahead. It still takes a willing buyer to sell a share, and transfers must stay within Securitize’s regulated environment. Holders could also convert back to conventional book-entry shares under the applicable procedures.
For Hawkeye, the decision is also a bet on how other public companies will manage their shares. David Wachsman, Hawkeye’s president, put the company’s reasoning this way:
“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.”
— David Wachsman, President of Hawkeye Digital
How HWKE differs from tokenized Disney or ExxonMobil
Earlier this week, Blockster covered Securitize’s addition of Disney, ExxonMobil and 11 other stocks on Solana. In that offering, Securitize says a custodian holds one underlying share for each token and dividends pass through to holders. With HWKE, the company whose name is on the stock is sponsoring the token and linking it directly to its own shareholder register. For investors comparing tokenized stocks, it’s worth asking who issued the token and whose books record the ownership.
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Securitize brings experience working with BlackRock, Apollo and KKR, and reported approximately $5 billion in tokenized assets on its platform as of September 30. It was also the first digital transfer agent to partner with the NYSE on its planned tokenized-securities venue. The NYSE has since expanded that network. Hawkeye’s announcement concerns its OTC-traded stock and a future Ethereum option through Securitize.
For HWKE holders, the next milestone is the shareholder guide Hawkeye plans to publish. It will spell out who qualifies and how to make the switch. Until then, 2027 is the target, and participation will be voluntary.
Reporting by Sasha Steenkamp
