BlackRock Teams with JPMorgan on Tokenized Money Market Funds

BlackRock is expanding its tokenized cash-management offerings in Europe through a partnership with JPMorgan. The asset manager will offer tokenized versions of select European money market funds using JPMorgan's blockchain infrastructure, which includes pound sterling, euro and US dollar share classes from BlackRock's Institutional Cash Series.

The Institutional Cash Series collectively manage about $311 billion, although this figure refers to the broader fund range, not the assets that will be tokenized. Each token will represent a share in an underlying money market fund and can be transferred around the clock between approved digital wallets.

JPMorgan's Kinexys will provide the tokenization infrastructure, while the bank will continue to serve as the transfer agent for the funds. Beccy Milchem, BlackRock's global head of cash distribution and head of international cash management, said that the asset manager has seen interest from digital wallet providers, corporate treasurers and capital markets participants seeking more efficient collateral.

Hannah Winter, BlackRock's head of digital cash, noted that the ability to make peer-to-peer transfers had appealed to companies exploring intracompany payments. This expansion builds on BlackRock's previous entry into the tokenized cash-management market with BUIDL, its US dollar-denominated institutional liquidity fund, which has grown to $2.67 billion in assets.