BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched its first tokenized fund access in Europe on Tuesday. Working with JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform, the company created onchain share classes on the Ethereum blockchain.
The initiative covers funds from BlackRock’s Institutional Cash Series (ICS) money market range. These funds held a combined $311 billion in assets under management as of June 30, so this is far from a small pilot project.
According to BlackRock, Kinexys acts as a translation layer between onchain transactions and the funds’ traditional recordkeeping systems. Each token represents a share in an ICS fund, while the official shareholder register remains with the fund’s transfer agent.
In other words, blockchain does not change the legal ownership structure. It digitizes the access and transfer layer.
A total of 12 tokenized share classes across six fund families are now available: Euro Government Liquidity, Sterling Government Liquidity, U.S. Treasury, Euro Liquidity, Sterling Liquidity and U.S. Dollar Liquidity.
Smart contracts allow approved investors to transfer shares directly between wallets around the clock, seven days a week. The structure continues to generate yield, while fund movements can be tracked onchain in near real time.
Hannah Winter, head of BlackRock’s Digital Cash business, said tokenized money market funds bring short-term investment instruments into a digital format without compromising capital preservation, liquidity or risk management standards.
How will institutions use the funds?
According to the announcement, the tokenized share classes can support institutional cash management, digital collateral management, bank distribution channels and integration with broader tokenized financial ecosystems. Access is currently limited to 15 markets.
The onchain share classes are available to investors in Bermuda, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Lithuania’s inclusion on the list indicates that the country’s digital asset infrastructure is also becoming an attractive destination for institutional players.
Tokenization has been on BlackRock’s agenda for years
This step is not a one-off experiment for BlackRock. In an article published by The Economist in December 2025, CEO Larry Fink and COO Rob Goldstein argued that tokenization could accelerate transaction settlement, reduce operational friction in private markets and expand investment access by recording asset ownership on blockchain-based ledgers.
The European launch came only one day after BlackRock unveiled two tokenized money market products designed for stablecoin reserves. BRSRV is a newly established fund, while BSTBL tokenizes share classes of the company’s existing Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund.
Both products invest primarily in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury bills and overnight Treasury-backed repurchase agreements.
The move also aligns with the objective outlined last month by BlackRock Chief Financial Officer Martin Small. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Small said BlackRock’s ultimate goal was to allow investors to access tokenized Treasury funds, iShares ETFs and private-market investments through digital wallets alongside crypto assets and stablecoins.
