Eligible holders of BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized fund can now swap their holdings for USDC and other stablecoins after banking hours and on weekends, through a liquidity facility created by Securitize and Ethena that launched on Thursday. The launch highlights a practical friction in tokenized finance: the tokens move on-chain around the clock, while converting them back into dollars has stayed tied to banking days and fund redemption schedules.

The pool started with $50 million in funding, against a cap of $100 million.

Securitize operates the facility and Ethena provides the backing

According to the Securitize announcement, approved investors can trade BUIDL for supported stablecoins such as USDC, or convert those stablecoins back into BUIDL. Securitize runs the facility, while Ethena serves as its backer, giving investors access to liquidity on Saturdays and Sundays without waiting for markets to reopen on Monday.

“Tokenization is about more than putting assets onchain. It’s about making those assets more useful,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize.

“Digital assets operate around the clock, and institutional liquidity needs to keep pace,” said Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs.

The launch makes the facility framework available to eligible holders under Ethena's expanded deal with BlackRock. BlackRock's Aladdin platform added Ethena's USDe in June, and Cryptopolitan reported that Ethena would back a $100 million liquidity facility via Securitize.

A second $50 million can be added within about an hour

The $100 million figure is a cap. The pool begins with $50 million, split into $25 million in USDC and $25 million in BUIDL. An additional $50 million can be added within about an hour, although a footnote in the release states that top-ups depend on the facility's terms, capacity, and availability. Since top-ups are not automatic, how quickly the remaining $50 million is drawn, and on what terms, will provide an early, concrete measure of demand for off-hours liquidity among tokenized-fund holders.

BUIDL targets a stable $1 net asset value but does not guarantee it. The fund holds overnight repurchase agreements and three-month Treasuries, and its tokens are accessible only to whitelisted investors who have passed KYC and AML checks.

Whitelisted holders can send tokens to one another on-chain around the clock. Cashing out into dollars is slower and depends on business days: when a user redeems or cashes out, the process completes on the same day or the next redemption date, depending on when the request is made. The new facility sits in that gap, letting holders swap into stablecoins that keep circulating on-chain while traditional redemption desks are closed.

Securitize and Ethena already work together on USDtb, Ethena's digital dollar, which is backed by BlackRock's BUIDL. The facility adds another layer to that relationship, extending it from collateral backing into liquidity provision.

Securitize went public through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II and now trades on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ. As of September, the company held roughly $5 billion in tokenized assets, and its tokenized fund partners also include Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck, a roster that illustrates how tokenized fund structures have spread across major asset managers and financial institutions.

Securitize's stock closed Thursday's trading session at $8.39, down about 7.4%.