The world’s largest investment firm, managing more than $11 trillion in assets, made two noteworthy strides in the crypto realm on March 25 to enhance its footprint.
The firm has broadened its tokenized money market fund offerings to include the Solana blockchain and has launched its inaugural Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) for the European market.
Bitcoin ETP
The firm has introduced its iShares Bitcoin ETP in key European markets.
As stated on the product’s website, trading for the ETP began on March 25 on the Xetra exchange in Germany, as well as Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam. The product trades under the ticker IB1T on Xetra and Paris, and BTCN in Amsterdam.
To promote user adoption, the ETP is launching with a special fee of 0.15%, which will remain until 2026. Following that period, the fee will increase to 0.25%, in line with other similar offerings in the region.
This launch comes on the heels of the impressive performance of the firm’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the US, which currently oversees assets exceeding $50 billion.
Data from SoSoValue indicates that this US fund now holds around 2.9% of the entire circulating Bitcoin supply.
BUIDL’s Expansion into Solana
In a different initiative, the firm’s tokenized fund, the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has officially launched on the Solana blockchain.
This addition marks its seventh blockchain supported, following previous deployments on Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Aptos, Polygon, and Optimism.
Securitize, a partner for BUIDL, noted that the expansion to Solana was motivated by the blockchain’s rapid transaction speeds and minimal network fees.
Carlos Domingo, Co-founder and CEO of Securitize, commented:
“As the market for real-world assets and tokenized treasuries continues to grow, extending BUIDL to Solana—a blockchain notable for its speed, scalability, and cost efficiency—represents a logical progression.”
BUIDL facilitates the tokenization of traditional money market funds, providing the advantages of blockchain-based settlement and round-the-clock trading. This is a significant shift from typical funds, which operate within constrained market hours.
At present, BUIDL manages over $1.7 billion in assets, chiefly in cash and short-term US Treasury bills. A majority of these assets—over $1.5 billion—are held on Ethereum, while the remainder is spread across other supported blockchains.
Aptos and Avalanche each house approximately $53 million, followed by Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism with $33 million, $32 million, and $27 million, respectively.
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