BlackRock Seeks SEC Approval for Onchain Fund Share Classes, Steps Up Tokenization Push

BlackRock (BK), the world's largest asset manager with about $14 trillion under management, is expanding its tokenization strategy with two SEC filings tied to blockchain-based U.S. Treasury and money-market offerings. In a filing submitted Friday, the firm proposed a new vehicle called the BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle. The fund would invest in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury securities and overnight repurchase agreements backed by Treasuries. It would also issue "OnChain Shares" via a permissioned system that connects to multiple public blockchains. Securitize Transfer Agent LLC would serve as transfer agent and keep the official ownership records for the tokenized shares. The filing describes a structure that uses a permissioned framework linked to public blockchain networks, while maintaining offchain records that map wallet addresses to verified investor identities. BlackRock did not specify which blockchains would be supported at launch. The minimum investment would be $3 million. Separately, BlackRock filed to create an onchain share class for its BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund, a traditional money-market fund with nearly $7 billion in assets under management. That filing says transfer agent BNY Mellon Investment Servicing would maintain official ownership records on Ethereum using the ERC20 token standard. The onchain ledger, paired with offchain identity systems linking wallets to investors, would function as the official shareholder registry. The moves add momentum to tokenized finance, one of the fastest-growing segments in digital assets. Tokenization creates blockchain-based representations of traditional instruments such as funds, bonds and equities, and supporters argue it can shorten settlement times, enable 24/7 trading and improve transparency. The tokenized real-world asset market has surged more than 200% over the past year and now tops $30 billion, according to rwa.xyz. Boston Consulting Group and Ripple have projected the market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has repeatedly endorsed tokenization as a way to modernize market infrastructure. In 2024, the firm launched its first tokenized money-market fund, BUIDL, with Securitize (CEPT). The fund has since grown to about $2.5 billion in assets and is increasingly used in crypto markets as collateral for borrowing and leveraged trading.