BlackRock has introduced tokenized share classes for a suite of European money market funds holding a combined $311 billion in assets, marking the asset manager's first on-chain fund access in Europe and one of the largest pools of traditional fund assets to be made accessible via blockchain technology to date.

The 12 new share classes span six funds within the BlackRock Institutional Cash Series, covering euro, sterling, and U.S. dollar strategies in both distributing and accumulating variants. Tokens are minted on Ethereum through Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, the bank's blockchain unit formerly known as Onyx, which manages the minting and burning process and serves as the bridge between on-chain activity and the traditional share register. The collaboration between the world's largest asset manager and the largest U.S. bank by assets underscores how established financial institutions are increasingly building blockchain-based infrastructure alongside their legacy systems rather than operating through standalone crypto platforms.

Each token represents a share in the underlying fund, while the official shareholder register continues to be maintained by the fund's transfer agent. Smart contracts facilitate the transfer of holdings between approved investor wallets, providing what BlackRock described as round-the-clock peer-to-peer transferability and near real-time visibility.

"Today's launches represent an important evolution in how investors access and manage cash, while helping modernise capital markets infrastructure," said Beccy Milchem, Global Head of Cash Distribution and Head of the International Cash Management business at BlackRock, in a press release shared with Decrypt.

Kara Kennedy, Global Head of Market Development at Kinexys, noted that "tokenization has moved from concept to execution." BlackRock identified corporate treasury management, digital collateral, and bank and wealth distribution channels as the primary use cases it expects the structure to support.

The share classes are offered to professional and qualified clients rather than retail investors. They are available in Bermuda, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

The underlying funds are public debt constant net asset value and low volatility NAV money market funds, regulated under Europe's UCITS framework. Hannah Winter, BlackRock's Head of Digital Cash, stated that the tokenized versions uphold the same standards for capital preservation, liquidity, and risk management as the existing share classes.

BlackRock's Broader Tokenization Strategy

The European launch follows a separate initiative announced the prior day, in which BlackRock issued tokenized money market funds recording ownership on Solana, Ethereum, and Stripe's Tempo platform, with Securitize serving as transfer agent. Those funds are aimed at stablecoin reserve management.

BlackRock's tokenization efforts date back to BUIDL, the tokenized fund launched on Ethereum in March 2024 with a $5 million minimum investment, which has since expanded across eight networks. Chief Executive Larry Fink and Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldstein have described tokenization as "the next major evolution in market infrastructure."

BUIDL now manages more than $2.6 billion. The new Institutional Cash Series share classes launch against $311 billion in existing assets, though BlackRock has not disclosed how much of that total it expects to migrate on-chain. The initiative places BlackRock alongside other asset managers pursuing tokenized fund products, including Franklin Templeton, which has expanded its own on-chain money market fund across multiple blockchains, signaling a competitive build-out among large institutions for blockchain-native fund distribution.