The corporate actions register for tokenized equities

A tokenized share on this chain is two things bolted together: a claim on a real share held in custody, and a balance in a contract. The claim receives dividends, splits and mergers. The balance never moves. Robinhood joins them with a multiplier, and that part works. Stock Ledger keeps the record around it.

Two ways value arrives

Issuers have picked different mechanics for the same event, and an integrator has to handle both.

• The issuer accrues into a multiplier. Robinhood's stock tokens implement ERC-8056. A dividend raises uiMultiplier(), which changes how many underlying shares stand behind one token, while balanceOf() stays exactly where it was. The Chainlink feed already includes the multiplier, so the quote is the full price. Nothing is transferred and nothing needs claiming.
• The issuer pays out. Other wrappers deliver cash to the holder instead, which means an actual transfer, a recipient list and a rounding rule.

The first case looks like nothing happened, and that is exactly the problem it creates downstream.

Where the layer sits

The payment chain for a real share runs issuer, transfer agent, depository, nominee, broker, holder. Every hop knows who is next. On chain the chain ends early: the wrapper issuer holds shares through a custodian, and past that point there is no register at all, only balances that move every block and a multiplier that steps a few times a year.

Stock Ledger rebuilds the missing hop. It says which contract is real, what happened to it and when, who held it at that moment, and what each of them is owed.

Four modules

• Contract map. Which address is a real wrapper, who issued it, whether it implements ERC-8056, and whether it can accept a corporate action at all. See contract map.
• Corporate actions registry. Every multiplier step, split, merger, ticker change and delisting, reconciled against the issuer's public announcement, with repeats and corrections marked as such.
• Snapshot at the effective time. The holder list at the block where the factor took effect, with pooled and lent positions resolved down to the end claim where that is possible.
• Distribution rail. Cash out where the issuer pays cash, and an allocation list where the issuer accrues into the multiplier and a pool has to work out who the accrual belonged to.

What the layer does not do

It does not issue wrappers, hold shares, match trades or publish prices, and it does not replace the multiplier. Robinhood's mechanism works. We answer the question it leaves open: who held what when it changed, and how anyone else can check.

Reading order

Start with the contract map, because nothing else is meaningful until you know which address you are looking at. Then corporate actions for the event model, record date for how holders are fixed, and distribution for how value is allocated. If you are wiring a venue or a basket in, go straight to integration.