BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and one of the leading issuers of Bitcoin ETFs, has invested in Securitize to accelerate the digitalization of capital markets with blockchain.
BlackRock has made a strategic investment in Securitize, alongside other leading investment firms, underscoring the company's efforts to accelerate the digitalization of markets through tokenization.
Joseph Chalom, BlackRock's Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships, said that the management company is increasingly committed to supporting blockchain innovation, emphasizing the disruptive potential that this technology has to transform conventional finance. He also commented that tokenization in particular is a rather promising innovation that could revolutionize the financial industry as we know it, making it more accessible, transparent and reliable.
“At BlackRock, we believe that tokenization has the potential to drive significant transformation in capital markets infrastructure. Our investment in Securitize is another step in the evolution of our digital asset strategy,” said Chalom.
Likewise, Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, highlighted the participation of giants such as BlackRock, in its recent round of financing, as an important milestone for the adoption and expansion of blockchain technology use cases.
In its recent funding round, which was led by BlackRock, Securitize raised $ 47 million dollarsOther investors participating in this round included Hamilton Lane, ParaFi Capital, Tradeweb Markets, Aptos Labs, Circle and Paxos.
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL)
BlackRock's strategic investment in Securitize coincides with the launch of its first tokenized fund BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity (BUIDL), which It was announced in March and the selection of Securitize as the transfer agent for this fund.
It is worth noting that BUIDL, which invests its assets in cash, Treasury bonds and repurchase agreements, and which seeks to offer a stable value of $1 per token and pay daily dividends to investors, is based on the Ethereum public blockchain.
Commenting on the creation of the fund, BlackRock's head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, had indicated that it was the latest progression of the company's digital asset strategy, which is increasingly focused on offering its clients innovative solutions and unlocking new opportunities in the crypto-asset and Web3 ecosystem.
In addition to the tokenized BUIDL fund, BlackRock also offers a Bitcoin spot ETF, and the Nasdaq-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)k, which accumulates more than 274.460 BTC, valued at approximately $15.600 billion in assets under management.
What is Securitize?
Securitize is a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform, which is focused on Bringing private and venture capital to the blockchain. In this way, the company enables companies to issue and manage tokens that represent ownership of assets on the blockchain, in order to unlock new financial opportunities in the cryptoasset space.
On its website, the company highlights that, through the tokenization of assets, it is providing greater automation and improving the liquidity of private markets.
For his part, Ben Forman, founder and managing partner of ParaFi, one of the investment firms that recently participated in the round held by Securitize, emphasized that the company is building “modern rails” for assets to move safely at high speed. All this, thanks to blockchain technology. Forman also said that the cutting-edge infrastructure offered by Securitize through the blockchain “allows for greater transparency, immediate settlement, lower counterparty risk and greater programmability”.
Chris Bruner, Chief Product Officer at Tradeweb, also spoke about the potential of tokenization to drive greater efficiency and accessibility in financial markets.
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Main image from Yahoo Finance
