The biggest asset management company in the world just helped a blockchain startup it has collaborated with get $47 million in investment.
The capital injection into a tokenization startup it has dealt with previously suggests the world’s biggest asset management firm is ready to go further into the tokenization market.
The companies said on Wednesday that Securitize, which aims to integrate real and conventional financial assets onto the blockchain, has raised $47 million in investment, with BlackRock leading the round.
Tokenization is becoming more popular among both fintech and conventional banking institutions, which are taking note of the cost savings and increased transparency that blockchain rails may provide. Tokenized assets are “the next generation for markets,” according to BlackRock’s Larry Fink.
There is some familiarity between BlackRock and Securitize at this point. The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, BlackRock’s first tokenized fund, introduced a new option to earn yields in US dollars in March. Through Securitize Markets, eligible investors have the opportunity to subscribe to that fund.
In a statement, Joseph Chalom, BlackRock’s global head of strategic ecosystem alliances, expressed his belief that tokenization might lead to a substantial change in the architecture of the financial markets. “The expansion of our digital assets strategy continues with our investment in Securitize.”
The board of directors of Securitize now includes Chalom. Among the other participants in the $47 million investment round are Tradeweb Markets, ParaFi Capital, and Hamilton Lane.
Hamilton Lane, an investment business specializing in private markets, made one of its equity funds accessible in January 2023 via a Securitize feeder fund tokenized on Polygon.
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