BlackRock has launched its first tokenized investment fund. It’s called BUIDL, and it allows qualified investors to access U.S. Treasury bills and cash-equivalent assets directly on the blockchain. The fund operates on Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and a handful of other networks. All transactions are visible onchain.
Each share in the fund is represented by a token, pegged to one dollar. Investors receive interest payments in the form of new tokens, credited to their wallet every month.
BUIDL is not for everyone, however (as you probably guessed). The minimum investment is 5 million dollars, and transfers are only possible between pre-approved investors. But for those already in the institutional world, it offers a new way to hold low-risk assets with greater flexibility.
How it works:
BUIDL invests 100 percent of its assets in U.S. Treasurys, repurchase agreements, and cash. These instruments have always existed, but what’s new here is the way they are held and transferred.
Rather than going through traditional intermediaries, investors receive blockchain-based tokens that represent their shares. These tokens can be transferred between approved wallets at any time, with instant settlement and full onchain traceability. No waiting for daily price updates, no market hour restrictions, and no paperwork involved.
The fund is managed by BlackRock. BNY Mellon handles custody and administration. Securitize is in charge of token issuance, compliance, and transfer tracking. Anchorage, Coinbase, Fireblocks, and BitGo provide custody and infrastructure.
BUIDL is already one of the largest tokenized funds in existence. It passed $2.8 billion in AUM within weeks of launching. Ondo Finance, which specializes in tokenized fixed-income products, reallocated $95 million into BUIDL shortly after it went live.
BlackRock is not the first to explore this space. Franklin Templeton and Figure are running similar products. But BlackRock’s entry sends a clear signal: tokenization is no longer niche. What BUIDL shows is that real-world assets can be digitized without losing regulatory oversight. On the contrary, the transparency and auditability of blockchain can make compliance easier, not harder.
What it changes for investors:
For institutions, BUIDL removes some of the operational frictions that come with managing short-term fixed income. Interest is distributed automatically. Transfers happen instantly. Positions are visible in real time.
It also enables more efficient treasury management. Cash can be moved onchain and put to work without delay, with custody options tailored to investor preferences.
What comes next
Tokenization is not about reinventing finance from scratch. It’s about using better infrastructure to do the same things more efficiently. BUIDL is not a DeFi product. It’s a regulated fund with traditional assets and a familiar structure. What’s different is the way ownership is recorded and managed.
If this model works, and early adoption suggests it does, we’ll likely see similar approaches applied to other asset classes. Bonds, credit, real estate, and equity products may follow. Tokenization is a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. The whole financial system will at some point end up onchain, and tokenized.