On 11.02.2024 BlackRock, with $13.5 trillion in assets under management, listed a tokenized treasury money market fund on Uniswap.

The fund and trading mechanism

The product, BUIDL, is described as the largest tokenized money market fund globally, with about $2.2 billion in assets and full backing by U.S. treasuries and cash.

Unlike standard stablecoins, BUIDL tokens are dollar-pegged and aim to deliver yield to holders, functioning as a blockchain alternative to a traditional cash fund.

Trading is executed via the UniswapX protocol, an auction-style quoting system where professional market makers compete and settlement occurs atomically in smart contracts.

Access, holdings and scaling plans

Initially, trading is limited to qualified investors holding at least $5 million and verified through the Securitize tokenization platform, restricting retail participation for the moment.

BlackRock has signaled that the underlying infrastructure is built for scaling, with the potential to support retail products in the future.

• BlackRock acquired UNI tokens, marking the first DeFi token on the firm’s balance sheet.
• After the announcement, UNI rose from $3.30 to $4.36, an increase of roughly 25–30%.
• Market makers involved in UniswapX include Wintermute, Flowdesk and Tokka Labs.

Strategic context

In December, Larry Fink wrote a column for The Economist calling tokenization "the next big evolution of market infrastructure"—a view he reiterated when discussing unified blockchain settlement for financial systems.

"the next big evolution of market infrastructure"

BlackRock’s 2026 outlook names Ethereum as the leading platform for tokenization, estimating that 65% of tokenized assets will operate on it.

Other institutions, including Goldman Sachs and BNY, are expanding institutional access to tokenized products, while JPMorgan highlights the asset class as an alternative to stablecoins and the New York Stock Exchange has announced plans for a tokenized securities platform.

Market growth and forecasts

The tokenization market has expanded rapidly, rising about 300% over the past 20 months, and reports from consulting firms project long-term growth to roughly $19 trillion by 2033.