Original report published November 10, 2026, at 00:06:03 UTC+8 (November 9, 2026, at 16:06:03 UTC). Market figures below reflect that reporting window, not current readings.
StoneX Financial initiated coverage of Bullish with a Buy rating and a $42 price target on Monday, November 9. Analyst Mark Palmer’s thesis centered on the exchange’s pending $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti, expected to close in January.
According to The Block, Bullish shares traded above $22 in early morning trading, up 2.9% on the day but down nearly 50% over six months. The report described StoneX’s target as implying roughly 97% upside. That figure represents an analyst’s target, not an observed return.
Equiniti is the central dependency
The acquisition would give Bullish a transfer agency business serving nearly 3,000 issuers, 15,000 corporate clients and 20 million shareholders, Palmer wrote in a client note. He said Equiniti is the transfer agent of record for approximately 30% of the S&P 500 and half the FTSE 100.
“Every big market structure shift needs a toll booth, and BLSH is buying one,” Palmer wrote, arguing that the business would position Bullish at the point where conventional share records become tokens.
The $4.2 billion transaction includes $1.85 billion in assumed debt and about $2.35 billion in Bullish shares. Equiniti processes $500 billion in annual payments, according to the note. At the time of reporting, the acquisition was awaiting regulatory approval.
Adoption scale versus market projections
The report put onchain tokenized equities at about $2.1 billion, compared with $151 trillion in global equity value. Projections cited in StoneX’s note suggested the broader tokenized asset market could reach $9.4 trillion by 2030.
These figures describe different scopes: the $2.1 billion reading covers tokenized equities, while the 2030 projection covers tokenized assets more broadly. The forecast is not evidence that adoption has already reached that scale.
For Bullish’s existing business, Palmer cited second-quarter adjusted revenue of $92.6 million, up 62% year over year. Subscription, services and other revenue reached a record $62.7 million, according to the note.
Risks to the thesis
StoneX identified an unforeseen delay or failure of the Equiniti acquisition as a risk, alongside slower tokenization adoption and competition from Nasdaq, DTCC, NYSE, Securitize and Superstate. The investment case therefore depends on both completing the transaction and realizing the anticipated tokenization opportunity.
The report also noted that Bullish had appointed former New York Stock Exchange President Stacey Cunningham as its president while expanding its issuer-sponsored tokenization business across Solana, Aptos and Ethereum.