According to Blockworks, holders of BlackRock's inaugural tokenized fund will now have the ability to transfer their shares in exchange for USDC. This transfer process will be facilitated on the secondary market through new smart contract functionality, as announced by stablecoin issuer Circle. This development will enable share sellers to maintain their holdings in digital dollars.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with approximately $10 trillion under its management, launched its BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, also known as BUIDL, last month. This fund was designed to allow qualified investors to earn US dollar yields by subscribing to the fund through Securitize Markets, a company that specializes in tokenizing real-world assets.
Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, stated that this new product signifies the latest advancement in their digital assets strategy. The tokenization of physical and financial assets, such as issuing digital representations of real estate or debt securities on a blockchain, has gained increasing traction in traditional finance circles over the past year.
Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire stated that tokenizing assets addresses various investor pain points. He added that USDC allows investors to quickly move out of tokenized assets, reducing costs and eliminating friction. Allaire expressed his excitement about providing this functionality to BUIDL investors and delivering the core benefits of blockchain transactions via USDC availability to investors.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had previously praised the potential of tokenized securities, referring to it as 'the next generation for markets' in 2022. Following the launch of a spot bitcoin ETF in January, BlackRock introduced BUIDL. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), another BlackRock fund, has become the fastest-growing new ETF of all time, amassing $18.5 billion in assets under management as of market close Wednesday.
