There may be two ledgers
Solana records which address controls the token. Company law and the issuer’s documents determine who is recognized as shareholder and who may claim dividends, vote or receive sale proceeds. Those records can coincide, but they do not do so automatically.
If a transfer agent records each token holder as the shareholder, the chain can participate in the official ownership record. If a special-purpose company remains the shareholder, the token holder instead relies on rights against that company. The token transfer moves the claim only if the governing documents say it does.
A custodian holds one Apple share. An issuer mints one token and promises to pay the token holder whatever that share is worth. The token tracks Apple, but the holder is not on Apple’s register. The holder owns a contractual claim against the issuer—not the Apple share itself.
Five common claim types
| Structure | What the holder has | Main dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Registered share | The company share itself, recorded through an authorized register or transfer agent. | The register must recognize token transfers and any compliance restrictions. |
| Beneficial interest | An equitable or contractual interest in shares held by a trustee, nominee or custodian. | The trust/nominee arrangement and its recognition of the holder. |
| Secured note or certificate | A debt or certificate claim supported by pledged or segregated assets. | Valid security, collateral coverage and an agent able to enforce it. |
| Unsecured claim | A promise by the issuer to pay an amount linked to a stock. | The issuer’s solvency and willingness or ability to perform. |
| Synthetic or derivative exposure | A formula-based payoff referencing the stock price. | The counterparty, calculation rules and hedging—not ownership of the share. |
None of these labels is automatically “good” or “bad.” They answer different questions. A registered security may be hard to transfer into DeFi because every receiving account needs approval. A well-collateralized certificate may be easier to trade but still leave the holder one legal layer away from the company.
Follow each right separately
Do not ask only “is it backed?” Ask where each shareholder benefit goes:
- Dividends: passed through in cash, reinvested, reflected in token quantity, paid at the issuer’s discretion—or excluded?
- Voting: exercised by the holder, passed through by instruction, retained by an intermediary—or absent?
- Corporate actions: what happens on a split, merger, tender offer, spin-off or delisting?
- Information: does the holder receive shareholder communications, or only token-issuer notices?
- Sale proceeds: can the holder claim the underlying, or only whatever cash amount the issuer calculates?
A product can pass through economic returns while withholding governance rights. It can also give contractual voting instructions without making the token holder a shareholder.
Questions that cut through the label
- Whose name appears on the company’s official share register?
- Which document says the rights travel with the token when it is transferred?
- Is the holder a beneficiary, secured creditor, unsecured creditor or derivatives counterparty?
- Who receives dividends and corporate-action notices first?
- Can a token holder enforce directly, or only through an issuer, trustee or security agent?
- What happens if the token ledger and the off-chain register disagree?
How RWA Sonar shows it
RWA Sonar uses a claim-depth scale separate from technical maturity: synthetic exposure, unsecured claim, secured claim, beneficial interest and registered share. The legal-template page then shows the complete chain from holder to issuer, intermediary, custodian and underlying company.
The score does not let a liquid market hide a weak claim—or let strong legal title hide poor liquidity. Open a product’s template and inspect the ownership conclusion, source precedence, holder scope and asset-specific exceptions.
Takeaway
The blockchain proves who controls the token. The operative documents and official register determine whether that control is ownership of a share, ownership of a claim, or only exposure to a price.