TLDR:
- Market: BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs hit $10B in AUM each within a year, with $50B total crypto AUM and $3B Q1 2025 inflows; tokenized equities remain under $500M.
- Narrative: BlackRock is to tokenize ETFs pegged to real-world assets like equities, a follow-up on its $2B BUIDL fund and Bitcoin ETF success. The project has a 24/7 trading target but has regulatory hurdles and concerns about end-user demand, and thus far has only niche on-chain demand.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is exploring tokenizing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to real-world assets (RWAs) supported by real-world assets (RWAs) like equities, according to Bloomberg on 11th September, 2025. The New York firm, with $50B in cryptos and $3B in Q1 2025 inflows, has seen both its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Ethereum Trust (ETHA) assets under management go beyond $10B each within a year, within just three ETFs that achieved that. Its tokenized money-market fund, BUIDL, has exceeded $2B in assets under management, an on-chain finance trailblazer.
BlackRock seeks to put ETFs on-chain for 24/7 worldwide trading, same-second settlement, and DeFi collateral use, riding Wall Street’s wave on tokenization alongside Fidelity’s blockchain Treasury fund and Nasdaq’s SEC filing for tokenized stock. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, a vocal supporter of tokenizing all financial assets, views this as a revolutionary step. Still, the tokenized equity marketplace is small, with fewer than $500M in circulation, while tokenized stock offerings exist on platforms such as Kraken and Robinhood. Regulatory obstacles loom, and Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas is skeptical about consumer demand, contending that tokenization provides marginal back-office savings yet lacks strong value for mass-market investors to make the jump from conventional ETFs such as VOO. X posts mention the same, citing niche appeal for on-chain participants. Investors should monitor regulation developments and adoption progress, being wary of the hype effect in a speculative marketplace.
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