Key Highlights

  • Adjusted EBITDA of $29.5 million represented an approximately 32 percent margin, with adjusted Net Income of $14.3 million after finance expense of $14.5 million.
  • Total adjusted Revenue was $92.6 million, up 62 percent year over year and essentially flat sequentially, with subscription, services, and other revenue reaching a record $62.7 million.
  • The company began trading its own tokenized shares on its regulated exchange, marking its first trade of any tokenized security, ahead of its pending Acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti.
  • Bullish narrowed full-year 2026 subscription and services revenue guidance to $225 million to $245 million while maintaining its outlook for the pending Equiniti transaction to close in January 2027.

Tokenization Push Begins as Trading Volumes Soften

Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), marking its first anniversary as a public company, reported second-quarter adjusted revenue of $92.6 million, up 62 percent year over year, even as trading volumes and market Volatility moderated broadly across the crypto industry during the quarter. The company's core exchange Business added new institutional relationships, including an exclusive crypto trading provider arrangement with one of the largest global Wealth managers for its Asia business, while overall spot trading volumes softened alongside declining crypto prices industry-wide.

The quarter's headline development was the start of tokenized securities trading on Bullish's own regulated venue, with the company's own stock becoming the first tokenized security to trade on the platform. Management described this as the practical beginning of a strategy centered on issuer-sponsored tokenization, where a company's actual legal shares are recorded as tokens by its transfer agent, distinct from synthetic tokens created by third parties that merely track a share's price without conferring legal ownership.

Equiniti Acquisition Remains on Track to Close in January

The pending acquisition of Equiniti, the world's second-largest transfer agent, remains on track to close in January 2027, with all antitrust clearances secured and other regulatory approvals continuing to advance. Equiniti maintains the official share registry for nearly 3,000 corporate issuers, including roughly half of the FTSE 100 and 30 percent of the S&P 500, and management framed the deal as positioning Bullish to be the infrastructure provider issuers turn to as securities tokenization scales.

Regulatory tailwinds also featured prominently in the quarter, with the U.S. Congress failing to advance the CLARITY Act this session, though the SEC is reportedly expected to publish an innovation exemption for tokenized securities that management believes could favor issuer-sponsored tokens over synthetic alternatives. Management indicated any such rule would likely accelerate conversations with issuer customers about tokenization timelines, though the company continues to await final rule language and cannot guarantee specific provisions.

Derivatives Access to U.S. Market Accelerates Timeline

Bullish disclosed it now expects to gain access to the U.S. market for its perpetual futures, dated futures, and Options products within the next several months, nearly a year earlier than previously anticipated, following what management described as a newly available regulatory pathway that leverages the company's existing overseas regulated trading platform in Partnership with an approved U.S. futures commission merchant. During the quarter, the company reduced trading incentives, advanced its U.S. readiness plan, and began working with market access provider Paradigm as part of that preparation.

Adjusted operating expenses of $63.1 million represented what management called the peak quarterly level for 2026, driven by costs tied to the company's Consensus industry conference and approximately $2.5 million in one-time compensation expenses related to signing bonuses and retention agreements tied to the broader business transformation toward tokenization. Those one-time costs are expected to be offset by efficiencies already realized heading into the third quarter.

Guidance Reflects Confidence Despite a Challenging Trading Environment

Bullish narrowed its full-year subscription, services, and other revenue guidance to $225 million to $245 million and expects adjusted operating expenses of $225 million to $230 million, split roughly evenly between the third and fourth quarters, while maintaining its full-year outlook for the Equiniti transaction and the medium-term combined business projections shared at the deal's announcement in May. Management does not expect a material uplift to transaction revenue from tokenized equities during 2026 itself, positioning that contribution instead as a 2027 growth driver as more issuers and trading venues come online. The primary risks to the outlook include the pace and direction of broader crypto market prices and volatility, which the company does not attempt to forecast, along with the timing of final SEC guidance on tokenized securities and the successful integration of Equiniti once the transaction closes.