BlackRock files to offer tokenized shares of its $150 billion Treasury Trust fund via BNY Mellon

BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset managers, filed to launch DLT shares of its $150 billion Treasury Trust Fund, a money market fund. DLT shares refer to digital shares with ownership tracked using distributed ledger technology.

According to the Form N-1A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the DLT shares will be sold solely through BNY Mellon. The minimum initial investment by an institution for DLT shares is set at $3 million, with no minimum requirements for further investments. 

"Although the Fund does not currently employ blockchain technology or invest in crypto assets, … [BNY] intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers," the filing explained.

As of April 29, 2025, the asset manager's Treasury Trust Fund, under the BlackRock Liquidity Funds umbrella, had total assets of around $150.1 billion, according to BlackRock's website. 

The prospectus for the DLT shares is still subject to change and review by the SEC.

Democratization

Meanwhile, BlackRock's move to tokenize one of its largest money market funds aligns with earlier remarks from its CEO Larry Fink.

"[Tokenization] will revolutionize investing," Fink said in March in his latest annual letter to investors. "Markets wouldn't need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth."

Fink highlighted that tokenization can make investing much more democratic by enabling fractional ownership, securing digital shareholder voting rights and democratizing yield.

However, Fink noted that insufficient identity verification infrastructure for tokenized assets remains a bottleneck. Once the issue is resolved, he expects tokenized funds to become as familiar to investors as exchange-traded funds.

Other major traditional finance players, including JPMorgan, State Street and Franklin Templeton have also leveraged blockchain technology to tokenize funds or pursue other initiatives.

More recently, London-based Calastone announced the integration of Fireblocks’ blockchain infrastructure to support a new tool that would enable asset managers to tokenize any fund on its platform.