BlackRock has launched tokenized share classes for a range of European money market funds holding a combined $311 billion, its first on-chain fund access in Europe.
The 12 new share classes sit across six funds in the BlackRock Institutional Cash Series, covering euro, sterling and U.S. dollar strategies in both distributing and accumulating form. Tokens are minted on Ethereum using Kinexys, J.P. Morgan's blockchain unit, which handles minting and burning and acts as the layer between on-chain activity and the traditional share register.
Each token represents a share in the underlying fund, and the official shareholder register continues to be maintained by the fund's transfer agent. Smart contracts move holdings between approved investor wallets, which BlackRock said delivers round-the-clock peer-to-peer transferability and near real-time visibility.
"Today's launches represent an important evolution in how investors access and manage cash, while helping modernise capital markets infrastructure," Beccy Milchem, Global Head of Cash Distribution and Head of the International Cash Management business at BlackRock, said in a press release shared with Decrypt.
Kara Kennedy, global head of market development at Kinexys, noted that, "Tokenization has moved from concept to execution," while BlackRock pointed to corporate treasury management, digital collateral and bank and wealth distribution channels as the use cases it expects the structure to open up.
#blackrock
The 12 new share classes sit across six funds in the BlackRock Institutional Cash Series, covering euro, sterling and U.S. dollar strategies in both distributing and accumulating form. Tokens are minted on Ethereum using Kinexys, J.P. Morgan's blockchain unit, which handles minting and burning and acts as the layer between on-chain activity and the traditional share register.
Each token represents a share in the underlying fund, and the official shareholder register continues to be maintained by the fund's transfer agent. Smart contracts move holdings between approved investor wallets, which BlackRock said delivers round-the-clock peer-to-peer transferability and near real-time visibility.
"Today's launches represent an important evolution in how investors access and manage cash, while helping modernise capital markets infrastructure," Beccy Milchem, Global Head of Cash Distribution and Head of the International Cash Management business at BlackRock, said in a press release shared with Decrypt.
Kara Kennedy, global head of market development at Kinexys, noted that, "Tokenization has moved from concept to execution," while BlackRock pointed to corporate treasury management, digital collateral and bank and wealth distribution channels as the use cases it expects the structure to open up.
#blackrock
1 day ago
