BlackRock has taken another step into blockchain by filing to launch a digital share class for its $150 billion Liquidity Treasury Trust Fund. The new “DLT Shares,” which stands for distributed ledger technology, will not hold cryptocurrencies. Instead, they will utilize blockchain to digitally mirror fund share ownership. BNY Mellon, the fund’s exclusive distributor, will manage the blockchain infrastructure, aiming to improve efficiency and transparency in back-office operations.
This initiative signals a growing shift in traditional finance toward blockchain integration, especially in money market operations. The DLT share class requires a $3 million minimum investment from institutional investors, with no limits on follow-up purchases. The move is pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
BlackRock’s adoption of blockchain isn't new. Its blockchain-native BUIDL fund, launched with Securitize, has already amassed over $1.7 billion in assets and recently expanded to the Solana blockchain. These efforts are part of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s broader vision to modernize financial infrastructure. In his 2025 shareholder letter, Fink warned that the U.S. risks losing its reserve currency status if it fails to rein in its national debt, suggesting that digital assets like Bitcoin could emerge as viable alternatives.
Fink has been vocal about the benefits of decentralized finance (DeFi), describing it as a transformative force that makes markets more efficient and transparent. The move to tokenize parts of traditional finance, such as BlackRock’s Treasury Trust Fund, underscores the industry's accelerating embrace of blockchain to modernize settlement systems and digitize real-world assets (RWAs).
With competitors like Libre tokenizing hundreds of millions in corporate debt, BlackRock’s blockchain initiatives could mark a pivotal shift in how financial giants approach fund management and digital asset adoption.
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