BlackRock Enters The Tokenization Scene With Securitize

A new filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that spot Bitcoin ETF issuer BlackRock has created a tokenized asset fund.

The BlackRock Tokenization Fund

The new fund, dubbed USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, is a private equity offering designed in collaboration with Securitize, a top financial service provider. Notably, this is another strategy for BlackRock to expand its crypto root after its spot Bitcoin ETFs was launched in January. 

In the Form-D or notice of exempt securities offerings that was submitted to the U.S. SEC last Thursday for its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, BlackRock stated that the proposed tokenized fund will require that outside investors invest a minimum of $100,000. Per the filing, the estimated sales commission for the fund is $525,000. It is crucial to note that no finder’s fee is attached.

BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands but the specific launch date has not been announced. The fund was seeded with $100 million in U.S. dollar-pegged USDC stablecoin using the Ethereum network. 

BlackRock Making its Mark In the Blockchain Ecosystem

On one hand, BlackRock is one of the traditional finance companies whose foray into the digital asset ecosystem has brought visible liquidity changes. In less than three months after being greenlighted by the U.S. regulator, BlackRock and Fidelity Investments have dominated the spot Bitcoin ETF scene, registering huge inflows into the product. 

Thus far, its trading volume for the spot Bitcoin ETF has surpassed $100 billion.

Its Asset Under Management (AUM) following the Bitcoin ETF product listing is way past $15 billion. BlackRock is currently waiting on the U.S. securities agency to make its decision on its spot Ethereum ETF, another offering that would likely cement the asset manager’s position in the crypto space. 

The tokenized asset fund move is not far-fetched considering that Larry Fink, the company’s CEO, had previously declared that ETH ETFs “are just stepping stones towards tokenization”.

The BlackRock tokenized asset fund move is an indication that the tokenization ecosystem is gradually growing and many TradFi firms are beginning to get more interested in tokenized real-world assets.