US Treasury Blockchain Tokens Exceed $1B - Forbes India

The recent tokenization of over $1 billion worth of United States Treasury securities across Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and a number of other blockchains signals a significant achievement in the world of digital asset management. This development has been facilitated, at least in part, by BlackRock's debut launch of its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, known as "BUIDL."

BlackRock introduced BUIDL on Ethereum on March 20 of this year. The fund currently boasts a market capitalization standing at an impressive $244.8 million, according to Etherscan data. Over the past week alone, four transactions amounting to $95 million have been made to the fund, thus consolidating its position as the second-largest tokenized government securities fund.

However, it still trails behind Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), which holds $360.2 million in US Treasury bonds.

Ondo Finance, a firm specializing in real-world asset tokenization, recently deposited $79.3 million into BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, thereby facilitating instant settlements for their own US Treasury-backed OUSG tokens through four distinct transactions totaling up to $95 million.

As such, Ondo Finance now commands an impressive 38% shareholding stake in BUIDL.

Tied 1:1 with the United States dollar value-wise, BUIDL distributes accrued dividends directly and monthly to investors via Ethereum using the Securitize protocol.

Tokenized government treasuries are increasingly deemed more lucrative when compared against stablecoin yields, particularly given today’s high-interest rate environment, both from risk and return perspectives.

Larry Fink, CEO at BlackRock, recently emphasized blockchain tokenization's potential for enhancing efficiency within capital markets during his keynote address at Consensus by CoinDesk.

While US Treasury securities constitute a substantial portion of all digitized assets, stocks and real estate, among other assets, are also undergoing tokenization, with approximately $700 million worth of real-world assets having been tokenized on-chain within Ethereum.

Franklin Templeton's FOBXX is tokenized on platforms such as Stellar and Polygon, which hold the second and third largest market shares of digitized products, amounting to $358 million and $13 million, respectively.

WisdomTree, an asset management firm, also engages in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Several blockchain-native firms, including Ondo Finance, Backed Finance, Matrixdock, Maple Finance, and Swarm, are also active participants in this space.

The recent achievement symbolizes a landmark shift towards blockchain-driven digital asset management. It underscores the growing prominence of digitized assets across various blockchains as traditional finance converges seamlessly with innovative blockchain technology, thereby setting up the stage for exponential growth within the market for digitized assets, projected to reach a staggering figure of about $16 trillion by 2030.