BlackRock Eyes Tokenized Shares for $150B Treasury Fund via BNY Mellon

Asset management giant BlackRock has filed a prospectus to introduce "DLT shares" for its substantial $150 billion Treasury Trust fund, a money market fund focused on short-term US Treasury obligations, The Block reported on Tuesday. These digital shares, with ownership tracked using distributed ledger technology (DLT), will be exclusively available through BNY Mellon.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday revealed that while the fund itself does not currently invest in crypto assets or directly utilize blockchain, BNY Mellon intends to use the technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its institutional clients holding the DLT shares. The minimum initial investment for these digital shares is set at $3 million for institutions, with no minimum for subsequent investments. Traditional book-entry records will remain BlackRock's official ownership ledger.

This move aligns with previous statements from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has publicly expressed his belief that asset tokenization has the potential to "revolutionize" investing by enabling faster settlements, fractional ownership, and more democratic access to yield. While acknowledging current limitations in identity verification for tokenized assets, Fink anticipates that tokenized funds will eventually become commonplace.

The prospectus for BlackRock's DLT shares remains subject to SEC review and potential changes.