- BlackRock recently filed a Form D to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its tokenized asset fund.
- The new offering of the company is called the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL) Fund.
Form D Filing of BlackRock to the SEC
BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm by asset under management (AUM), just launched its first tokenized asset fund. This was revealed through its Form D filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Based on the details of the document submitted to the SEC, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund was already established in 2023. However, its launch was withheld until this year for some reason.
It’s possible that the company helmed by Larry Fink may have wanted to iron out the fund’s kinks first before its submission to the regulator. It could also be that BlackRock may have needed to assess first how its spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares, will fare with the government watchdog and in the market before diving into other digital assets. Nevertheless, asset tokenization has always been on the CEO’s sights since the approval of their Bitcoin-based ETF.
“We believe the next step going forward will be the tokenization of financial assets, and that means every stock, every bond […] will be on one general ledger,” Fink said in an interview following the approval of iShares in January. “Every investor will have their identification, enabling us to eradicate issues surrounding illicit activities in the realm of bonds, stocks, and digital assets.”
BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund
According to the filing, BUIDL will be built through the ERC-20 protocol of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. The pooled fund will have a minimum investment of $100,000.
Meanwhile, the sales offering of the product will be overseen by the US-based digital assets securities firm, Securitize. The form likewise indicates a sales commission of up to $525,000.
The Form D filing of BlackRock sought certain regulatory exemptions for BUIDL as allowed by the Investment Company Act Section 3(c) because it was claimed to have been created under the British Virgin Islands’ jurisdiction.
Spot Bitcoin ETF of BlackRock
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF has been nothing but successful since its launch. Despite the dipping price of BTC since it tapped a new all-time high on March 14, iShares has remained a leader not only in its niche but has also earned it a spot on the top 5 ETFs in the world since the start of the year.
As of yesterday though, the massive outflows in the spot Bitcoin ETF market only yielded a $75.2 million net inflow for BlackRock. This was but a fraction of the record-high $849 million it achieved on March 12.
At that point, outflows overwhelmed inflows by $326.2 million, which was again thanks to the selling pressure created by Grayscale’s GBTC.