Asset Management / Fund Tokenization

Fund Tokenization: BlackRock and Beyond

Tokenized funds issue and record fund shares as tokens on a blockchain, with the transfer agent keeping the register on-chain. Money market funds from BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, UBS and BNP Paribas lead, and private credit has followed.

Summary

A tokenized fund is an investment fund whose shares are issued, recorded and transferred as tokens on a blockchain, with the transfer agent using the chain as the share register or keeping its official record in step with it. Most live examples are money market funds holding US Treasuries and repo, and private credit funds are following.

How it works

BlackRock's BUIDL shows the mechanics. It launched on Ethereum on 20 March 2024. Qualified investors, with a $5 million minimum, subscribe through Securitize, which acts as transfer agent and tokenization platform, while BNY holds the fund's cash, Treasury bills and repo as custodian. The fund targets $1 per token, pays dividends that accrue daily as new tokens each month, and lets holders transfer tokens 24/7/365 to other pre-approved investors. Eligibility is enforced at the token level, since only pre-approved investors can receive tokens.

Franklin Templeton was earlier. Its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), whose shares are represented by BENJI tokens, launched on Stellar in 2021 and later expanded to Ethereum and Solana. In August 2026 the SEC's Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter allowing Franklin's conventional registered funds to invest cash in it without meeting certain Rule 17f-2 physical custody requirements. Under that arrangement, Franklin Templeton Investor Services creates and controls the investing funds' wallets on Stellar and keeps the private keys. The Block put the fund at about $726 million at the time.

UBS Asset Management launched the UBS USD Money Market Investment Fund Token (uMINT) on 1 November 2024. It is a Singapore fund built on Ethereum and sold only through authorized distribution partners, part of the UBS Tokenize service that had already issued a CNH 200 million tokenized structured note in June 2023 and completed a cross-border repo transaction on a public blockchain in November 2023.

BNP Paribas Asset Management took a different route in Europe. On 22 May 2025 it launched a natively tokenized share class of an existing Luxembourg money market fund on Allfunds Blockchain, with BNP Paribas' Securities Services business as transfer agent, and processed cross-border transactions with a French counterparty. The aim is on-chain order execution as soon as the NAV is received, replacing batch processing.

The model now reaches beyond cash funds. Apollo and Securitize launched ACRED on 30 January 2025, a feeder giving accredited investors tokenized access to the Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, which invests in corporate direct lending and asset-backed, performing and structured credit. It runs on six blockchains including Ethereum and Solana, with daily subscriptions and a daily NAV.

Some things stay the same. The NAV is still struck on the fund's schedule, eligibility rules still apply and redemptions follow the prospectus. The operational gain is that the register, transfers and distributions live on the ledger the shares move on, so fewer parties reconcile separate books and a share can change hands outside dealing hours.

Business goal

Impact

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