Former NYSE president Stacey Cunningham joins crypto exchange Bullish as president
Stacey Cunningham, the first woman to lead the New York Stock Exchange, has been appointed president of crypto exchange operator Bullish as it expands into tokenized securities.
Crypto exchange operator Bullish has named former New York Stock Exchange president Stacey Cunningham as its new president, reuniting her with Bullish chief executive Tom Farley. Cunningham made history in 2018 as the first woman to lead NYSE Group, where she succeeded Farley after he ran the exchange operator from 2014 to 2018. Bullish announced the hire on Monday without specifying a start date, reporting line, or compensation terms.[2][6]
Farley tied Cunningham's appointment to her long-standing connections with market issuers, stating she will play a central role in developing new services for market participants. Cunningham remarked that while public markets rely on trusted infrastructure, there is an immense opportunity to make that foundation more efficient, connected, and accessible.[4][6]
The leadership addition arrives as Bullish advances into tokenized securities. The company agreed in May to acquire transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion, aiming to combine Equiniti's records for nearly 3,000 public issuers with its blockchain trading platform. Bullish anticipates closing the Equiniti takeover in January 2027 after securing competition clearances across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with additional approvals still pending.[3][5][6]
Before leading the NYSE, Cunningham served as its chief operating officer, overseeing technology overhauls and exchange integrations, and previously held senior positions at Nasdaq. Since stepping down from the NYSE presidency in late 2021, she has advised Uniswap Labs and taken board seats at the NYSE, Cloudflare, and a financial markets center at Georgetown University.[6]
Key facts
- Bullish appointed former New York Stock Exchange president Stacey Cunningham as its new president.
- Cunningham was the first woman to lead NYSE Group when she took over in 2018 from Tom Farley, who is now the CEO of Bullish.
- The announcement did not specify a start date, reporting line, or compensation terms.
- Bullish is pursuing a $4.2 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti, which manages shareholder registers for nearly 3,000 corporate issuers.
- The Equiniti transaction is expected to close in January 2027 and has received regulatory competition clearances in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.
- Cunningham has served as an advisor to Uniswap Labs and sits on the boards of Cloudflare, the NYSE, and a Georgetown University financial markets center.
Sources · 6 sources
- CO
Cointelegraph@CointelegraphPost on X ·
🔥 NEW: Crypto exchange Bullish appoints former NYSE President Stacey Cunningham as its president. https://t.co/AZBOJCIXVv
Open source - CO
CoinDesk@CoinDeskPost on X ·
JUST IN: Former @NYSE president Stacey Cunningham, the first woman to lead the exchange, joins @Bullish as President. https://t.co/A6YB96iofx
Open source - LS
Laura Shin@laurashinPost on X ·
Former NYSE Group president Stacey Cunningham is Bullish's new president. The crypto company plans to close its $4.2 billion Equiniti takeover in January 2027, adding a firm that keeps shareholder registers for nearly 3,000 issuers. https://t.co/ipTuCXBIDf
Open source - FC
Frank Chaparro@fintechfrankPost on X ·
Big news: Stacey Cunningham, former President of @NYSE and the first woman to lead the exchange, joins Bullish as President. “Public markets depend on trusted infrastructure, but there is an enormous opportunity to make that infrastructure more efficient, connected and accessible.”
Open source - TB
The Block@TheBlockCoPost on X ·
THE BLOCK: Digital asset platform Bullish has appointed former New York Stock Exchange President Stacey Cunningham as its new president. The move comes as Bullish expands into tokenized securities, including its planned $4.2 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti. https://t.co/9KaX4FYM4l
Open source - UN
UnchainedArticle ·
Bullish Makes Ex-NYSE President Stacey Cunningham Its President Ahead of Equiniti Deal Stacey Cunningham , who Bullish says was the first woman to lead NYSE Group, the company behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) , is the new president of crypto exchange operator Bullish , the company announced on Monday. She stepped into that NYSE role in 2018 as the successor to Tom Farley , now Bullish’s chief executive, who had run NYSE Group since 2014. The announcement did not give a start date, a reporting line or pay terms. Farley said in the release that Cunningham “will play a central role in building the next generation of services for market participants,” and called her “one of the most respected leaders in global capital markets.” Cunningham has advised Uniswap Labs , the developer behind the Uniswap trading protocol, and sits on the boards of the NYSE, Cloudflare and a Georgetown University financial markets center. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) , the NYSE’s parent, named Lynn Martin to succeed her as president in December 2021. Before she became president, Cunningham was the NYSE’s chief operating officer, and Bullish credits her senior roles there with overseeing the modernization of the exchange’s technology and folding several acquired exchanges into its operations. Earlier on, she worked in senior positions at Nasdaq. Get Unchained’s crypto news in your inbox with the free Unchained Daily newsletter . Why an Exchange Veteran Farley tied the hire to Cunningham’s “relationships with issuers built over decades.” He has made the same pitch for Equiniti, the company Bullish is acquiring: in July he said bringing together its “deep-rooted issuer relationships” and its business keeping companies’ official shareholder registers with Bullish’s blockchain-native platform “creates something that doesn’t exist today.” The Equiniti Deal Bullish agreed on May 5 to buy Equiniti for $4.2 billion : $1.85 billion of Equiniti debt that Bullish will assume plus roughly $2.35 billion in Bullish shares. At the $38.48 per-share price the deal set, that stock portion works out to about 61 million Bullish shares , by Unchained’s math. Siris, which is selling Equiniti, will receive two board seats under the deal, Bullish said. Equiniti is a transfer agent, the firm a public company pays to keep its official register of who owns its stock, and Bullish says Equiniti counts nearly 3,000 issuers as clients. In July, Bullish said it had received competition clearances in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany, with other approvals still pending and closing expected in January 2027 . When the deal was announced in May, Farley framed the purchase around tokenization (recording securities such as stocks on blockchains), which he called “a once-in-a-generation shift in how capital markets operate.” Regulators in Gibraltar have approved Bullish for tokenized securities trading, and tokenized versions of Bullish’s own stock, issued with the company’s backing, already trade. Bullish owns the crypto news outlet CoinDesk. The NYSE is working on tokenized stocks too. Equiniti was one of the transfer agents the exchange added on Nov. 2 to its planned tokenized securities venue, and on Monday Ava Labs, the company that builds the Avalanche blockchain, said that venue’s clearing firm, which settles its trades, will keep its books on Avalanche . The venue still needs regulatory approval. “Public markets depend on trusted infrastructure, but there is an enormous opportunity to make that infrastructure more efficient, connected and accessible,” Cunningham said in the release. Related Listen: Why Domingo Says Wall Street’s Copycat Stock Tokens Break the Rules The post Bullish Makes Ex-NYSE President Stacey Cunningham Its President Ahead of Equiniti Deal appeared first on Unchained .
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