Frederik Gregaard: Tokenized Assets Must Preserve Ownership Rights

Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, challenged tokenization models that leave investors with fewer rights than direct ownership of the assets they represent. Speaking with Cointelegraph journalist Ciaran Lyons at TOKEN2049 Singapore, he argued that blockchain products must improve speed, cost, or functionality while preserving the rights investors expect.

The discussion covered Cardano’s programmable token standard, the tokenization of Veridian’s shares, and planned Fireblocks support for Cardano native tokens.

What Does a Tokenized Share Actually Give Its Owner?

Gregaard highlighted problems that can emerge after an asset has been tokenized: proving ownership in court, finding a buyer during fast-moving markets, and exercising rights associated with corporate actions.

A token can track a company’s share price without giving its holder the same legal position as a shareholder. Voting rights and enforceable claims depend on how the product is structured, including the relationship between the token holder, issuer, and underlying asset.

Trading presents a separate constraint. A blockchain can record ownership transfers, but it cannot guarantee that a buyer will be available when an investor needs to sell.

Gregaard’s argument is that these functions belong in the assessment of a tokenized product alongside transaction speed and fees. Issuing a transferable digital representation does not, by itself, resolve the obligations and market requirements surrounding the asset.

Cardano Connects Transfer Controls With Digital Identity

Cardano Foundation announced the mainnet availability of CIP-0113 on October 7. The programmable token standard enables issuers to define transfer conditions, including participant eligibility, sanctions restrictions, and other compliance requirements.

Digital identity supplies information those rules may require. Gregaard described connecting blockchain credentials with legal entity identifiers already used in traditional finance, allowing participants to establish which organization they represent.

Veridian, the digital identity company spun out of the Foundation, develops infrastructure for verifiable credentials. According to the Foundation, its shares have been tokenized on Cardano as ledger-based securities under Switzerland’s DLT framework, using the new standard.

That deployment connects programmable transfer controls with legally defined equity ownership. The two components serve different purposes: CIP-0113 governs how tokens may move, while the issuance structure establishes the rights attached to them.

For other issuers, adopting the standard still requires defining the financial instrument, its ownership arrangements, and the procedures through which holders exercise their rights.

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Fireblocks Targets Institutional Access by March 2027

Gregaard also discussed the announced expansion of Cardano support on Fireblocks, a platform institutions use to manage digital assets.

Fireblocks has supported ADA since 2021. The planned integration extends native support to other assets issued on Cardano, reducing manual steps involved in managing those tokens.

Institutions would be able to custody, send, and receive supported Cardano native tokens through the platform’s existing security policies and transaction approval controls. This addresses asset management infrastructure rather than the legal rights or trading liquidity of individual products.

The Foundation expects full native token support by March 2027, with further DeFi and ecosystem integrations to be scoped during that year.