Securitize to Acquire River One, Expanding Into $6.1 Trillion Market

Securitize agreed to acquire River One, a New York-based institutional financing firm, as it expands into a private asset-backed finance market KKR estimated at $6.1 trillion in 2024, the company said Monday.

River One provides warehouse financing. The product lets firms borrow against pools of loans or other assets. It provides capital before those assets are sold or refinanced. Securitize did not disclose the purchase price. The companies expect to close in the fourth quarter. Securitize announced the agreement alongside its third-quarter earnings.

Framework Ventures incubated River One. Blockchain lending platform Maple Finance also backed it. Maple’s SYRUP token was quoted at $0.1346.

KKR projected the market would exceed $9 trillion by 2029. The estimate describes the overall private market. It is not the value of Securitize’s acquisition. The company has not quantified River One’s contribution.

Founded in 2017 and based in Miami, Securitize has emerged as a key infrastructure provider for tokenization. It helps asset managers issue traditional securities on blockchain rails. The company provides issuance, transfer agency and fund administration services. Clients include BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane and VanEck.

The acquisition extends that role from issuance into lending and financing. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said in a statement:

“Credit is one of the most exciting emerging asset classes for blockchain-based financial markets, and acquiring River One represents an important step in expanding our business into this space.”

Securitize became a public company on the New York Stock Exchange in July, trading as SECZ. At the time, Domingo told CoinDesk the company planned to use its roughly $400 million war chest for acquisitions. He said those purchases would expand its institutional tokenization platform rather than buy competitors.

What does this change for Securitize?

Operationally, the answer starts with service scope. Once the deal closes, Securitize will add warehouse financing to its tokenization platform. The offering will sit alongside security issuance, transfer agency and fund administration.

It lets firms obtain interim liquidity against loan pools or other assets. Those firms can access capital before the assets are sold or refinanced. Securitize is adding a service, not buying a competing tokenization platform.

It also changes the business mix. Securitize will add credit exposure and a lending operation to its tokenization platform. The company disclosed neither River One’s revenue nor its purchase price. Consequently, the acquisition’s effect on margins and future earnings remains unquantified.

The third-quarter results show scale and cost at the same time. Revenue reached $18.6 million, up 13% year over year. The net loss reached $66.3 million. About $60 million of that loss came from largely non-cash expenses and accounting charges. Securitize tied those charges mainly to its public listing and business combination.

Average tokenized assets on the platform reached $5 billion, up 39% year over year. Transaction volume rose 20% to $4.3 billion. Those figures describe the existing platform before River One joins it. The acquisition’s contribution therefore sits outside the third-quarter operating numbers.

Securitize ended September with about $300 million in cash and no debt. It also authorized a $50 million share buyback through December 2027. The buyback sits alongside the acquisition as another capital-allocation commitment. Securitize has not said how it will divide cash among the buyback, acquisition and other uses.

The next checkpoint is the fourth-quarter close, with the purchase price and River One’s earnings contribution still undisclosed.