Figure debuts blockchain-native share and enlarges financing

Figure introduced a new equity token, FGRD, a native digital share that will be issued and settled on its public onchain platform rather than through legacy clearing and custody plumbing.

Alongside the token launch the company increased a competing secondary offering to $150 million, disclosed participation from Pantera Capital, and authorized a $10 million repurchase of existing common stock.

Separately, Figure is formally marketing a block of about 4.23 million shares that sellers — existing holders rather than the company issuing new stock — are routing to a trading venue operated on its own blockchain architecture. Pricing for that placement is slated to be set after the close of New York trading on Feb. 17, tying the commercial mechanics to standard market hours while moving settlement and subsequent trading to Figure’s nontraditional venue.

Figure plans to distribute and trade FGRD through its Markets application and wallets that allow self-custody, and the token will be usable as collateral in its decentralized lending protocol, Democratized Prime, enabling instantaneous onchain credit against equity positions.

Because the share sits directly on a public ledger, transfers record and finalize onchain, shortening the time between trade and finality and enabling programmable compliance controls that travel with the token.

Routing a marketed block to a blockchain-operated trading venue functions as an experiment in alternative trading-system design: it tests price discovery, counterparty credit assumptions and market surveillance outside conventional exchange infrastructures.

Operationally, the token will live on Figure’s Onchain Public Equity Network (OPEN), which is already used to connect loan origination, funding and secondary trading into blockchain rails; the marketed block will be one of the first sizable uses of that architecture for secondary share movement.

Market context: the rollout follows Figure’s recent public listing and comes amid market volatility that prompted the firm to shore up liquidity. The approach signals to institutional investors whether they will accept settlement and execution arrangements that diverge from established exchange norms.

For investors and intermediaries, immediate questions include how price discovery will operate when matches occur on a blockchain venue, how custodial arrangements and counterparty credit are managed, and how existing surveillance and reporting frameworks will integrate with onchain activity.

Regulators and custodians are likely to scrutinize mapping of shareholder rights, record-keeping and compliance around native-onchain equity; any operational or reporting glitch during this marketed placement could slow wider adoption despite the product’s potential efficiency gains.

• Key instrument: FGRD — a native digital equity token.
• Capital move: offering enlarged to $150M; share repurchase authorized for $10M; marketed block of 4.23M shares.
• Execution: sellers are existing holders; pricing for the marketed block set after NY close on Feb. 17; settlement and ongoing trading routed to OPEN, Figure’s blockchain-based trading venue.