English
Jacob Zawada
239 posts
Jacob Zawada
@ZawadaJacob
Product @Figure - OPEN (Onchain Public Equity Network) 🇺🇸 Views are my own.
New York, NY Katılım Ağustos 2019
418 Takip Edilen183 Takipçiler
@ZawadaJacob @mcagney @Figure Schwab, E*Trade, Fidelity, Ibkr, hood. All the biggies.
Check your shareholder register
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
To all the $FIGR holders...
First off, I want to thank you for being a @Figure investor - we appreciate your support.
One of Figure’s key initiatives in 2026 is to demonstrate the value proposition of OPEN (On-Chain Public Equity Network). Specifically, we want to show that when you migrate stock from the national market (e.g., Nasdaq or NYSE) to blockchain and force the borrow/short sales to happen on blockchain, two key things happen:
- Investors get the full economic benefit of lending out stock. Today, much of that benefit is taken by the prime broker who sits in between borrower and lender. I’ve heard of situations where the borrower is paying 30% or more for stock on “special” (i.e. high short demand), while the lender is getting 3%. The prime brokers make an enormous amount of money intermediating the borrow.
- Companies create a countervailing force to short selling interest. When stock is heavily shorted, the high borrow cost creates a reason to be long the stock, akin to a “free” dividend
We are building a pipeline of companies to list on OPEN, and I want to be able to demonstrate this value proposition to them. This is where we need your help.
I’m asking you to move at least some - if not all - of your Nasdaq shares of FIGR onto the blockchain (FGRS). Once we get a critical mass of stock on the blockchain, the borrow will flip and have to happen there. In doing this, you:
- Will earn the full benefit of any shares you lend out for borrow.
- Irrespective of whether you lend shares, you will demonstrate the validity of OPEN to other companies.
- If you are a fund or SPV, it is much cheaper, faster and easier to distribute shares to your LPs vs brokerage distribution.
- You (or your LPs) can switch shares back to Nasdaq at any time, without cost or tax consequences.
I’ve heard a few reasons why people/funds are hesitant to make this switch, including:
- Concern about liquidity on OPEN. Jump provides liquidity today, and will make as much market depth as is needed to support liquidity. In fact, OPEN is open 24x7 - with significant liquidity during US and Asia market hours. And - as mentioned above - if you feel you need to, you can move the stock back, usually the same day (or one business day later in the worst case).
- Concern about wallets/QCs. There are a variety of ways to hold FGRS, including through a Figure Markets wallet or a BitGo qualified custodian wallet (with more options coming).
- Concern about losing keys. FGRS is a security, not a bearer asset. If for whatever reason you lose your keys (or your security), Figure’s transfer agent mints you a new one.
The net is, hopefully you own FIGR because you believe in our ability to bring capital markets to blockchain. And now you can directly impact how fast we do this by migrating your stock to OPEN.
To make this easy for you, Jacob - @ZawadaJacob - will handhold you through the process of migrating. DM him, and if you have any questions, respond to this thread and I'll answer them.
Thanks!
English
@bomcom8058 @mcagney @Figure You can open an account with Figure Markets from Japan! Happy to help you through the process. PM'd!
English
@HettyGreen2020 @mcagney @Figure Any specific brokerage you would like to receive instructions for? Feel free to PM me.
English
English
English
I wish @vladtenev and @RobinhoodApp had an easier way to migrate shares to the blockchain.
$Figr
Mike Cagney 🇺🇸@mcagney
To all the $FIGR holders... First off, I want to thank you for being a @Figure investor - we appreciate your support. One of Figure’s key initiatives in 2026 is to demonstrate the value proposition of OPEN (On-Chain Public Equity Network). Specifically, we want to show that when you migrate stock from the national market (e.g., Nasdaq or NYSE) to blockchain and force the borrow/short sales to happen on blockchain, two key things happen: - Investors get the full economic benefit of lending out stock. Today, much of that benefit is taken by the prime broker who sits in between borrower and lender. I’ve heard of situations where the borrower is paying 30% or more for stock on “special” (i.e. high short demand), while the lender is getting 3%. The prime brokers make an enormous amount of money intermediating the borrow. - Companies create a countervailing force to short selling interest. When stock is heavily shorted, the high borrow cost creates a reason to be long the stock, akin to a “free” dividend We are building a pipeline of companies to list on OPEN, and I want to be able to demonstrate this value proposition to them. This is where we need your help. I’m asking you to move at least some - if not all - of your Nasdaq shares of FIGR onto the blockchain (FGRS). Once we get a critical mass of stock on the blockchain, the borrow will flip and have to happen there. In doing this, you: - Will earn the full benefit of any shares you lend out for borrow. - Irrespective of whether you lend shares, you will demonstrate the validity of OPEN to other companies. - If you are a fund or SPV, it is much cheaper, faster and easier to distribute shares to your LPs vs brokerage distribution. - You (or your LPs) can switch shares back to Nasdaq at any time, without cost or tax consequences. I’ve heard a few reasons why people/funds are hesitant to make this switch, including: - Concern about liquidity on OPEN. Jump provides liquidity today, and will make as much market depth as is needed to support liquidity. In fact, OPEN is open 24x7 - with significant liquidity during US and Asia market hours. And - as mentioned above - if you feel you need to, you can move the stock back, usually the same day (or one business day later in the worst case). - Concern about wallets/QCs. There are a variety of ways to hold FGRS, including through a Figure Markets wallet or a BitGo qualified custodian wallet (with more options coming). - Concern about losing keys. FGRS is a security, not a bearer asset. If for whatever reason you lose your keys (or your security), Figure’s transfer agent mints you a new one. The net is, hopefully you own FIGR because you believe in our ability to bring capital markets to blockchain. And now you can directly impact how fast we do this by migrating your stock to OPEN. To make this easy for you, Jacob - @ZawadaJacob - will handhold you through the process of migrating. DM him, and if you have any questions, respond to this thread and I'll answer them. Thanks!
English
Good insight into the state of the current tokenized equity space:
sharegain.com/tokenized-equi…
English
@_openworld's merger and public listing will demonstrate the power of @Figure's OPEN platform. Shareholders who opt for tokenized equity will receive faster settlement times, direct ownership, and the flexibility to lend, borrow against, or cross-collateralize their shares.
Open World@_openworld
OpenWorld has agreed with @Figure to tokenize our equity on Figure's OPEN network - in connection with our proposed @Nasdaq listing. Direct ownership. Yield on lent shares. Cross-collateralized crypto and equities. We go first. businesswire.com/news/home/2026… #RealWorldAssets #Tokenization #Blockchain
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
@banamlas It is not true that issuer cannot go directly onchain, what happen is that those tokens need to follow securities laws, those wrappers are not only inferior they are not regulatory compliant in the US
English
Today Figure launched its blockchain-native common stock FGRD and I took it for a test drive.
It's the first SEC-registered common equity issuance native on the blockchain. Like Galaxy's tokenized stock, this isn’t a tokenized wrapper of a DTCC-held security; it’s the security itself. You can trade it 24x7 on the Figure ATS with deep liquidity, it settles instantly, and you can loan it out and borrow against it.
This evening I bought one share of FGRD on the Figure ATS. Here is the play-by-play:
* Easy Onboarding - Opened a brokerage account at Figure through their app, passed KYC and funded the account. You can only buy FGRD through the Figure app for now.
* 24x7 Trading with Deep Liquidity - Bought 1 share of FGRD on the Figure ATS at 9pm. The ATS uses a central limit order book with more liquidity than I expected courtesy of Jump Trading. The spread was wide at $31.31/$31.94. See the image for the full order book. Payment has to be made in YLDS which is Figure's stablecoin.
* Atomic Settlement - I sold the share, received YLDS and converted this to USD. The USD was immediately available.
* Democratized Prime - via Figure’s 'Democratized Prime' I attempted to loan FGRD out on a transparent stock loan limit order book (there was no demand), and could borrow against it.
Figure call the ecosystem they have created OPEN - On-chain Public Equity Network, and it's an impressively sophisticated step into the future.
English
@jdorman81 Growth here requires new listings and real value realization from tokenized use cases. Few will keep an account for just 1 position. Cross-collateralization, stock lend/borrow, and 24/7 markets are compelling, if liquidity and usage let users actually gain efficiency and yield.
English
I agree that this is a better version of the same asset. Tokenized stocks are the future of blockchain.
But I disagree that "the “discount” is a measure of how much the market still misunderstands what programmable equity actually is."
I don't think it's a misunderstanding. I think it's just a lack of buyers in tokenized form.
As I've always said, the ETFs and DATs were "1 step forward, 2 steps back". We didn't need to introduce crappy crypto assets into antiquated T+1 rails. We needed to introduce investors from the antiquated system into the new system (tokens), but provide them with better assets (tokenized stocks/bonds rather than memes and worthless L1 tokens)
It's just going to take a lot longer now to create a buyer base for tokenized assets.
Franklin Bi@FranklinBi
Today @Figure issued the first natively onchain public equity, priced at a 13% discount to their trad’l shares. This is exactly backwards. One asset settles through DTCC, trades 6.5 hours a day, and sits in a custodial chain you don’t control. The other settles instantly, trades 24/7 on global rails, self-custodies, and plugs directly into DeFi lending markets. The “discount” is a measure of how much the market still misunderstands what programmable equity actually is. It’s not the same asset. It’s better. Congrats to @mcagney & the team on this milestone. It’s a treat to pull the future forward together 💪🏼
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
History is made.🛎️
We’re proud to announce that pricing has officially closed for FGRD, the first public equity to be natively listed, traded, and settled entirely on blockchain infrastructure, leveraging Figure’s ATS for instantaneous settlement.
Thanks to the OPEN (On-chain Public Equity Network), we've eliminated the legacy intermediaries (DTCC, we hardly knew ye) and built something incredible: equities that live natively on-chain, are tradeable 24/7, and are composable from Day One.
Secondaries are coming. Be ready.
English
@mcagney Prediction markets are more intuitive than derivatives like options or perps. Also, creating a hedge pegged to the OPEN equities price enables NMS/OPEN decoupling and true price discovery for OPEN equities. It would solidify OPEN equities as more than a NMS proxy.
English
Derivative volume in equities – like crypto – dominates cash share volume by roughly 3:1. It’s logical to think that on-chain perpetuals are going to capture that market share. I disagree.
First, FTX had a single stock perpetual market. It never really took off in part because of established exchange traded and OTC derivative markets. The market already exists in regulated form.
Second, prediction markets offer a potentially better solution. With prediction markets, I can posit a bet – stock XYZ will be over $100 in 3 months, for example – and put up a fixed dollar amount. I don’t get margin called, and pending on my bet, can get comparable or even better leverage than perpetuals.
I’m considering having @Figure make market on any bets on OPEN equities. I need to talk through the regulatory issues, but I see the market evolving into cash and prediction, not cash and perpetuals.
Thoughts?
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
It looks like they copied our S1 for their "Issuer-Sponsored Tokenized Securities" section. Companies issue stock native on chain, and the blockchain security is the actual stock, not an IOU/tokenized representation. When done correctly, that stock can trade in a limit order book on our ATS (self custody) and used in Democratized Prime (DeFi).
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
Can someone actually give me the steelman argument for why stablecoins shouldn't pay yield?
Honestly asking.
English
JUST IN: Goldman Sachs says it's "spending a lot of time" on crypto, tokenization and stablecoins.
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
Very excited to launch OPEN - the On-Chain Public Equity Network. @Figure will be the first to use OPEN to issue public equity native to blockchain, trading in a lit limit order book on Figure's Alternative Trading System marketplace, usable in DeFi on Figure's Democratized Prime and swappable between blockchain and the NMS security for those who want a safety blanket (and to keep comparable liquidity across markets). And while Figure is the first, there will be more listings to follow.
This is a big deal. Not wrapping DTCC securities. Not building SPVs US investors can't trade. Real public equity native on blockchain available to all.
Bloomberg@business
Blockchain-based lender Figure Technology is launching a new platform to issue on-chain equity bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
English
As the market gets punch-drunk on the idea of tokenizing everything, it's worth taking a step back to ask "why tokenize something?".
Generally when someone pitches me an idea of putting something on blockchain, it's because of perceived efficiencies (blockchain is generally not an efficient technology) or tapping a pool of money previously unavailable to them (that doesn't exist).
There are three reasons you would put an asset on blockchain.
First - transactional efficiencies. @figure - as an example - uses @provenancefdn to reduce the cost of originating, aggregating and securitizing loans. Real time asset movement with synchronous stable coin settlement reduces reconciliation expenses, for example.
Second - liquidity. This doesn't mean when you put something on the blockchain it becomes liquid. Liquidity requires ubiquity, truth and market making. Figure has created the first liquid mortgage market outside of GSEs (Fannie and Freddie) relying on blockchain for homogeneity of assets and truth in representation (remittance is fed through the chain). I also appreciate that those wanting to stand up a marketplace can leverage blockchain infrastructure to do that - but again - it doesn't mean the marketplace is liquid.
Third - DeFi. This is the most important value prop of blockchain - bilateral, peer to peer lending. Figure uses DeFi to finance loans (that ultimate lead to lower loan rates for consumers). DeFi is asset based - for it to work, the collateral needs to be liquid. No one is going to lend against your private equity interests in a DeFi protocol unless there is a liquid secondary market for them.
So if we extend this rubric to equities, the question is - how is blockchain (specifically on-chain LOB, self custody, self settle, self clear) better than the Nasdaq?
Well, it's a little more efficient operationally (notably, there is not post trade cost). It's modestly more liquid (24x7 trading - but market makers generally won't do that for public equity). But it can be massively valuable around DeFi - cross collateralization and lit stock loan limit order books. But this means a.) the equity is native to chain, not an IOU, b.) it has a liquid LOB and c.) it can be ported to a DeFi marketplace.
I've yet to see a proposed structure to solve a, b and c other than Figure's current S1. I think that "second" IPO is going to usher in a wave of company's behind it.
English
Jacob Zawada retweetledi
BOOM! @Figure on @provenancefdn just called out @The_DTCC, @NYSE , @NasdaqExchange , broker-dealers and custodians. The first true blockchain native public equity is here. Congrats to @mcagney and team. People throw around the term "revolutionary" all the time but this is the real deal.
English