BlackRock Expands Digital Fund to Multiple Blockchains as Tokenized Assets Gain Momentum
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, announced Wednesday that its pioneering tokenized money market fund is expanding beyond Ethereum to five additional blockchain networks, marking a significant step in the growing market for digitized traditional assets.
The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which launched on Ethereum in March 2024, has rapidly become the dominant player in the $2.3 billion tokenized U.S. Treasury market. With $520 million in assets under management, BUIDL achieved the position of largest tokenized fund within just 40 days of its launch. Of this total, $192 million comes through Ondo Finance, which offers a retail-friendly version of the fund.
According to the company, the expansion includes integration with Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism’s OP Mainnet, and Polygon. Notable in the rollout is a tiered fee structure: while Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism users face a management fee of 50 basis points, investors on Aptos, Avalanche, and Polygon will pay a reduced rate of 20 basis points, thanks to subsidies from blockchain-associated foundations.
The fund maintains a strict $5 million minimum investment threshold for direct institutional investors, though retail investors can access it through Ondo Finance’s product with a $5,000 minimum investment. BUIDL primarily invests in U.S. Treasuries and other highly liquid assets, maintaining a stable $1 peg.
“Real-world asset tokenization is scaling,” said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize, BlackRock’s tokenization partner. The expansion aims to enhance efficiency in traditionally cumbersome financial processes through blockchain technology.
The multi-chain strategy appears well-timed, as the broader tokenized real-world asset market shows significant growth potential. McKinsey projects the sector could reach $2 trillion by 2030, suggesting BUIDL’s current half-billion-dollar position represents early adoption in an emerging market.
The fund offers institutional features including on-chain yield opportunities, real-time peer-to-peer transfers, and blockchain-native dividend distribution. In October, the platform integrated with Zero Hash, enabling digital asset firms to purchase BUIDL using USDC stablecoin and maintain their investments on-chain, while Circle stands ready to facilitate USDC-based exits for investors.
This development follows BlackRock’s broader push into digital assets, which included the launch of its iShares Bitcoin Trust earlier this year.
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