tZERO Group, Inc. and North Capital Investment Technology, Inc. announced Wednesday the successful routing of the first order through the Agora Network, launching live operations for what they describe as the industry's first network connecting alternative trading systems (ATSs) for tokenized and private securities.
The milestone represents the first realization of the vision outlined when the companies announced their strategic partnership in January 2026 to create shared infrastructure enabling qualified participants to identify trading interest and route orders across connected venues while preserving the independence, compliance frameworks, and operational controls of each participating ATS.
Agora was created to address one of the most persistent challenges in private and tokenized markets: fragmentation. Historically, issuers, investors, and intermediaries have operated within isolated marketplaces, limiting access, visibility, and potential liquidity. Through a common discovery and routing framework, Agora enables ATS participants and their broker-dealer and institutional customers to connect to multiple ATS venues without requiring bespoke integrations with each platform.
"This first order routed demonstrates that the future of tokenized securities will be built on connectivity, not isolation and fragmentation," said Alan Konevsky, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of tZERO. "Capital markets work best when participants can access opportunities across a broad ecosystem rather than through disconnected pools of liquidity. Agora is designed to preserve the strengths and independence of individual platforms while creating the infrastructure that allows them to participate in a larger network."
Jim Dowd, Chief Executive Officer of North Capital, said, "The successful completion of the first order routed via Agora validates the technology and market model behind the network. Our objective has been to create common infrastructure to enable greater connectivity to potential liquidity and transparency, while allowing ATSs and issuers to maintain control of their businesses."
The initial phase of the Agora Network enables order-routing and discovery between tZERO's ATS and North Capital's PPEX ATS, allowing eligible and approved customers of each firm, through their existing broker-dealer and ATS relationships, to identify potential trading interest and route orders through the shared framework without directly accessing the other firm's ATS. Future phases are expected to expand the network to additional ATSs, broker-dealers, liquidity providers, and other market participants, further extending access across the tokenized securities ecosystem.
The launch of live order routing powered by Agora advances both companies' broader objective of supporting a more interoperable market structure for tokenized securities and private assets, where trading interest can be discovered and orders routed across connected venues rather than remaining siloed within individual marketplaces.
tZERO Group, Inc. and its broker-dealer subsidiaries provide an innovative liquidity platform for private companies and assets, offering institutional-grade solutions for issuers looking to digitize their capital table through blockchain technology. North Capital, through its technology and services provided by its registered subsidiaries, is transforming infrastructure for issuers, professional intermediaries, and investors in the $3 trillion exempt securities market.
