BlackRock Expands Tokenized Fund to 5 New Blockchains with Lower Fees

BlackRock, the world's largest asset-management firm, announced an expansion of its tokenized real-world asset fund to five additional blockchains, extending its reach beyond Ethereum and enhancing access to its leading money-market fund token.

The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), issued in partnership with tokenization platform Securitize, is now available on Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism's OP Mainnet, and Polygon networks, according to the company’s statement on Wednesday. Initially launched on Ethereum in March, BlackRock's first tokenized product has now been expanded to these additional networks.

BUIDL, backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries, has already amassed $520 million in assets, making it the largest blockchain-based money market fund. The token is pegged to $1 and is used by institutions and protocol treasuries to park on-chain cash, earn yields, or as collateral for trading. Decentralized finance protocols, such as Ondo Finance, have also built products on top of BUIDL. According to rwa.xyz data, BUIDL leads the $2.3 billion tokenized U.S. Treasury market.

The management fee structure of the tokenized fund varies by network: BUIDL's fee is set at 50 basis points on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism, while it is lower—only 20 basis points—on Aptos, Avalanche, and Polygon. This lower fee is supported by ecosystem development organizations including Aptos Foundation, Avalanche (BVI), Inc., and Polygon Labs BD Investments (Cayman) Ltd., each of which has agreed to pay BlackRock a quarterly fee to incentivize usage on these platforms.

Tokenization of real-world assets is becoming one of the most significant trends at the crossroads of cryptocurrency and traditional finance. Digital asset firms and global financial powerhouses are racing to move instruments like government bonds, private credit, and funds onto blockchain platforms, aiming for faster settlements and greater operational efficiencies.

Carlos Domingo, CEO and co-founder of Securitize, emphasized the strategic approach behind BUIDL, stating, "We wanted to develop an ecosystem that was thoughtfully designed to be digital and take advantage of the advantages of tokenization. With these new chains we'll start to see more investors looking to leverage the underlying technology to increase efficiencies on all the things that until now have been hard to do."