The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund has achieved a market cap of $500 million, making it the first tokenized treasury fund to reach this milestone. Launched less than four months ago, the fund, known as BlackRock BUIDL, currently holds $502.8 million worth of tokenized treasuries, according to Ethereum block explorer Etherscan. This achievement was made possible by real-world asset tokenization firm Ondo Finance, which purchased more BUIDL to use as a backing asset for its OUSG token.
BlackRock’s BUIDL surpassed the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (BENJI) as the world’s largest tokenized treasury fund in late April, just six weeks after its launch on March 15. BUIDL has maintained its top position ever since. The price of BUIDL is pegged 1:1 with the U.S. dollar and pays daily accrued dividends directly to investors each month through its partnership with real-world asset tokenization platform Securitize. Ondo’s OUSG is the largest holder of BUIDL at $173.7 million, while stablecoin issuer firm Mountain Protocol also holds BUIDL to back its permissionless yield-bearing stablecoin, USDM.
According to data from Dune Analytics compiled by the parent firm of 21Shares, there is now $1.67 billion worth of tokenized treasury funds onchain. Ethereum is the leading blockchain for tokenization, accounting for more than 75% of treasury funds, followed by Stellar at 23.9%. In January, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink expressed his belief that blockchain tokenization could make capital markets more efficient. Boston Consulting Group estimates that the tokenization market will reach $16 trillion by 2030, encompassing not only U.S. Treasuries but also stocks, real estate, and other assets.
While the number of real-world asset transactions reached its peak in April 2024, it has since declined significantly, according to data from Crypto Koryo analyzed by Dune Analytics. In addition to BlackRock, other asset management firms such as WisdomTree are also tokenizing real-world assets. Blockchain-native firms like Ondo Finance, Backed Finance, Matrixdock, Maple Finance, and Swarm are also active in this space. The transformation of the real estate market through blockchain technology is an ongoing process.