
Author: Dong Jing, Wall Street News
The global fund tokenization market is ushering in explosive growth, and Wall Street giants have entered this emerging field one after another.
According to the latest report of Goldman Sachs, the scale of tokenized asset management reached US$23 billion in the first half of this year, a surge of 260% from January.Among them, the total market value of the tokenized treasury bond market reached US$7.5 billion.
Goldman Sachs expects thatBy the 2030s, tokenized funds will account for 1% of global asset management, exceeding US$600 billion.Not only traditional money market funds, but also the tokenization of alternative assets such as private equity is also following up quickly.
Goldman Sachs believes that behind this amazing growth,It reflects the significant increase in institutional investors’ recognition of blockchain technology in the traditional financial field.
The report states thatGoldman Sachs recently cooperated with Bank of New York Mellon to launch the first tokenized money market fund solution in the United States, marking the official implementation of this innovative financial tool in the US market.Well-known institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity Investment, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management participated in the initial release.
Goldman Sachs believes that the rapid development of global fund tokenization is due to the increasingly perfect global regulatory environment and the growth of institutional investors’ demand for improving liquidity and reducing costs.
Money market funds become the pioneer of tokenization
Tokenized money market funds are becoming the vanguard of this wave of innovation.According to a report by Goldman Sachs, more than 335 tokenized physical asset products have been operated on the chain, among which money market funds occupy an important position.
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund has been launched in partnership with Securities, with asset management scale of more than US$2.9 billion, becoming the world’s largest tokenized money market fund.Other important participants include:
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Franklin Templeton’s on-chain U.S. government money fund has started on-chain trading in 2021, and has reached US$512 million as of early 2025.
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Fidelity recently applied to launch a dedicated tokenized money market fund, while Ondo Finance’s OUSG product scale is about $253 million.
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The government money market digital fund of Wisdom Tree will be approximately US$130 million by mid-2025.
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VBILL, a tokenized Treasury Money Market Fund launched by US asset management company VanEck, can be used on multiple blockchain networks.
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State Street announced that it is developing a money market fund tokenization project for use as collateral, which will eliminate the need to liquidate money market fund positions to meet margin requirements.
Goldman Sachs analysts believe that the commercialization of these heavyweight institutions shows that the market demand for blockchain native liquidity is growing.
Follow-up of alternative assets such as private equity
Private equity and alternative asset tokenization are also gaining attention.
According to Goldman Sachs’ prediction,The tokenized fund market will expand significantly from $40 billion in 2023 to $317 billion in 2028, with growth mainly concentrated in private equity, private debt, real estate and other alternative strategies.
According to a survey by PwC, 54% of institutional investors listed private equity as the preferred tokenized alternative investment.
Tokenized private credit strategies such as Apollo’s diversified credit funds provide some investment opportunities for qualified institutions under the compliance framework.
Investors can obtain ACRED tokens, representing their on-chain equity in Apollo traditional credit funds.One of the key features is the ability to mint derivative tokens sACRED, converting investment into flexible collateral for borrowing stablecoins on decentralized financial platforms.
It is estimated that tokenized alternative investments could drive up to $400 billion in distribution opportunities, which support simplification, automation and simplification of investment cycles, including capital call automation, portfolio customization and access to these generally poorly liquid tools.
US tokenized money market funds usher in milestone
Goldman Sachs’ partnership with Bank of New York Mellon marks an important milestone for tokenized money market funds in the United States.
For the first time, the solution allows U.S. fund management companies to enable money market fund share subscriptions through Bank of New York Mellon’s LiquidityDirect platform, leveraging Goldman Sachs’ blockchain-based GS DAP platform.
Bank of New York Mellon’s LiquidityDirect platform serves as the tokenization manager, facilitating the subscription and redemption of money market funds and on-chain minting and destruction of tokens.Tokens represent mirror records of off-chain securities equity and may directly represent the securities equity itself in the future stage.
Shaun Cullinan, partner at Goldman Sachs liquidity solutions, saidThe biggest initial opportunity lies in collateral management.Traditional mutual funds have restrictions on ownership record keeping and cannot be used effectively as collateral in the ecosystem.The future potential of tokenized funds can alleviate these frictions and unlock asset class value.
Amar Amlani, head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs Americas, pointed out that market volatility periods are often accompanied by large fluctuations in margin call, and usually requires cash to be met.This often leads to redemption of money market funds, increasing pressure on underlying assets.Mobilizing money market funds and expanding their use in collateral flows on the basis of T+0 is expected to bring benefits from the perspective of financial stability.
The regulatory environment is gradually becoming clear
Goldman Sachs said global regulators generally adopted a positive attitude towards fund tokenization, creating favorable conditions for market development.
In April 2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Exchange Commission approved the world’s first tokenized money market ETF, further broadening potential liquidity returns and showing strong interest in interoperable token formats.
The UK’s fund tokenization implementation blueprint released in 2023 provides a phased approach aimed at improving the efficiency and transparency of the investment market.
The Financial Conduct Authority has been supporting industry efforts and recognizes the potential of fund tokenization.The agency plans to consult on guidance in the third quarter of 2025 to support the Blueprint tokenization model.
In the United States, although the SEC has not yet issued a regulatory framework specifically for tokenized funds, regulatory signals are becoming increasingly positive.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce openly advocates tokenization, pointing out that it can enhance capital formation and enable more efficient use of collateral.
Major U.S. industry players have launched tokenized fund products, demonstrating the business momentum in the field.