BlackRock’s on-chain fund BUIDL has surpassed $540 million in total assets under management (AUM), a milestone that confirms the growing traction of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and marks a turning point in how institutional capital is entering blockchain markets. The BUIDL fund, launched in March 2024 and built on the Ethereum-based platform Securitise, is structured as a tokenized money market fund designed to give qualified investors exposure to short-term U.S. Treasuries in a fully digital format.
With this week’s milestone, BlackRock not only reinforced its long-term commitment to blockchain infrastructure but also accelerated the institutional movement toward asset tokenization—a sector many now consider to be the next trillion-dollar frontier within crypto.
How the BUIDL Fund Works
BUIDL represents a blend of traditional finance (TradFi) efficiency and blockchain-enabled transparency. It is a tokenized version of a money market fund, holding real-world assets such as U.S. Treasury bills, repurchase agreements, and cash equivalents. These assets are custodied and managed by BlackRock and tokenized through Securitise, a platform that handles investor onboarding, compliance, and secondary transfers in accordance with securities regulations.
Qualified investors can access BUIDL through the Securitise Markets platform by completing KYC/AML checks and holding their tokenized shares in approved wallets. BUIDL tokens can be transferred among verified investors, allowing for fractional ownership, faster settlement, and programmable features that traditional fund shares cannot support.
The fund pays yield directly on-chain, typically backed by interest earned from U.S. Treasuries. With yields hovering around 4.9% annually, BUIDL has become attractive to cash-rich institutions and crypto-native treasuries seeking safe, yield-generating opportunities that also align with blockchain-native custody preferences.
Growth Accelerates in Q2 2025
The fund crossed the $540 million mark in mid-July 2025, up from just $200 million at the start of Q2—a 170% increase in three months. This surge has been attributed to multiple drivers: growing confidence in U.S. monetary policy stability, a retreat from high-risk DeFi strategies following recent protocol exploits, and an increased preference among institutional allocators for regulated on-chain exposure.
Major contributors to the inflow include crypto trading firms, DAO treasuries, and fintech companies seeking to diversify idle capital without exiting the blockchain ecosystem. By holding BUIDL, these entities can earn stable returns in a fully compliant structure while preserving composability with other tokenized finance tools.
BlackRock has not disclosed individual investor names but has confirmed that dozens of entities have onboarded since April. The firm is now reportedly exploring parallel tokenized products tied to corporate bonds and international sovereign debt, signaling confidence in the infrastructure’s scalability.
The Broader Tokenization Trend
BUIDL’s momentum is reflective of a larger trend within traditional and decentralized finance. Asset tokenization refers to the issuance of digital representations of real-world assets on blockchain networks. This includes everything from stocks, bonds, and real estate to private credit and even commodities.
According to a July 2025 report by Citi Global Markets, the total market cap of tokenized RWAs now exceeds $9.3 billion, up from $2.4 billion just a year ago. Financial giants including Franklin Templeton, JPMorgan, and Fidelity have either launched or are piloting tokenized offerings, while blockchain-native protocols like Maple, Centrifuge, and Goldfinch are gaining traction by bridging traditional borrowers with on-chain lenders.
BlackRock’s involvement adds institutional credibility to the space and signals to regulators and large asset managers that blockchain infrastructure is no longer experimental—it is operational. BUIDL’s structure, which combines real-world custody with blockchain-based issuance and transfer, sets a regulatory-compliant standard that others are beginning to follow.
Why Tokenized Money Markets Matter
In the current macroeconomic environment, where interest rates remain elevated, access to yield is more important than ever. Traditionally, institutions looking to earn 5% from Treasury bills must go through lengthy processes involving brokers, custodians, and limited settlement windows.
Tokenized money markets like BUIDL bypass much of that friction. Investors can subscribe and redeem on a near-daily basis, manage their positions through smart contracts, and access real-time NAV reporting on-chain. This reduces operational complexity, lowers counterparty risk, and opens the door for integration with decentralized protocols and stablecoins.
Moreover, tokenized funds are laying the foundation for permissioned DeFi—a new category where regulated institutions can interact with blockchain-native applications in secure and compliant ways. Examples include using BUIDL as collateral in lending protocols, as reserve assets in stablecoins, or even in automated treasury management solutions for DAOs.
Compliance and Future Outlook
One of the key differentiators of BUIDL is its commitment to regulatory compliance. All participants must undergo verification via Securitise’s transfer agent and meet accredited investor requirements. While this limits the retail accessibility of the product for now, it ensures that the fund operates within SEC frameworks and avoids the enforcement risks that have plagued some DeFi products.
BlackRock and Securitise have indicated plans to expand distribution through tokenized feeder funds and explore multi-chain deployments, potentially enabling BUIDL to reach new investor segments and networks. The roadmap may also include integration with permissioned stablecoins and digital identity frameworks to further enhance the fund’s utility in the broader digital asset ecosystem.
Conclusion
With BUIDL crossing $540 million in AUM, BlackRock is not just experimenting with blockchain—it is operationalising it at scale. The fund represents a significant milestone in the convergence of traditional finance and Web3 infrastructure, setting a precedent for how real-world assets can be tokenized, distributed, and managed in a digital-first future.
As institutional interest in tokenized assets continues to accelerate, projects like BUIDL are poised to play a central role in redefining capital markets. While the road ahead will involve regulatory adaptation and technological scaling, the trajectory is clear: blockchain-based finance is no longer theoretical—it’s here, and it’s growing fast.
