Asset manager Neuberger Berman — a privately held, employee-owned firm founded in 1939 that oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in client assets — and tokenization platform Securitize have launched a multi-chain tokenized fixed-income fund, adding a new onchain fixed-income vehicle to the market and extending the reach of institutional tokenized real-world assets.

What the Two Firms Are Launching

The firms have introduced a tokenized fixed-income fund, according to Securitize's announcement of the launch. Securitize provides the tokenization infrastructure, while Neuberger supplies the underlying fixed-income asset management. Securitize already occupies a similar seat in other institutional products: the firm serves as transfer agent and tokenization platform for BlackRock's BUIDL digital liquidity fund, which launched in 2024.

Tokenized fixed income refers to traditional debt instruments — the interest-bearing securities that make up conventional bond portfolios — represented as digital tokens recorded on a blockchain. The token stands in for the fund share rather than replacing the underlying assets.

The product is positioned as multi-chain, meaning it is designed to exist across more than one blockchain network rather than being tied to a single chain, as described in the companies' joint statement. Specific supported chains, fund size, and yield targets were not confirmed in the available materials.

Why the Multi-Chain Structure Matters

A multi-chain rollout lets a single fund reach investors and applications native to different blockchain ecosystems rather than concentrating access on one network, and that framing sits at the center of how the launch has been presented. The approach follows an established pattern: BlackRock's BUIDL, tokenized by Securitize, expanded from Ethereum to additional networks including Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Polygon, and Solana, and Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund likewise operates across several chains, making multi-chain reach an emerging norm for institutional tokenized products.

Tokenization changes the packaging and access model of fixed-income products by turning fund shares into transferable onchain tokens. The same infrastructure logic has driven other institutional onchain moves, such as Kraken's decision to open US-listed stock trading to EEA customers by bridging traditional securities to digital rails.

Tokenized fixed income also differs from typical crypto market exposure: the return profile is anchored to interest-bearing traditional assets rather than to the price volatility of tokens like ether or bitcoin, even though the wrapper lives onchain.

Significance for Tokenized Real-World Assets

The fund centers on fixed income, one of the largest real-world asset (RWA) categories now being brought onchain. Most institutional tokenized-fund activity to date has concentrated in cash-like instruments — tokenized money market funds and US Treasuries, which industry trackers such as rwa.xyz put in the multi-billion-dollar range — so a broader fixed-income vehicle widens the set of fund types available onchain. The launch adds another data point to a tokenized RWA conversation that has drawn traditional asset managers toward blockchain infrastructure, and the pairing of an established asset management name with a tokenization platform illustrates the crossover between traditional finance and onchain infrastructure.

The fund has also surfaced in DeFi governance discussion, with an Aave governance proposal to onboard the Neuberger-Securitize tokenized fund — referred to there as HINC, the High Income Tokenized Fund — to its Horizon platform. Horizon is an RWA-focused initiative that Aave launched together with Securitize, meaning the proposal would place the fund inside DeFi infrastructure its tokenization partner already helps power.

Regulatory framing remains relevant to tokenized securities broadly. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has published a statement on tokenized securities addressing how such instruments are treated under existing rules.

Details Still Pending

Several key details still require confirmation from later reporting, including the fund's exact chain support, minimum investor requirements, distribution channels, total assets, and the outcome of the Aave Horizon onboarding vote. For readers tracking how tokenized products intersect with mainstream access, developments such as MoonPay adding Cash App Pay for US crypto purchases reflect the same broader push to connect traditional finance rails with onchain products.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.