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BNP Paribas has launched a tokenized share class for a France-based money market fund on the public Ethereum chain. This bank is considered the largest in Europe, with assets exceeding $3 trillion.
This represents another important step in the gradual migration of traditional finance towards distributed ledger technologies.
Ethereum real asset market tops $15 billion as BNP Paribas joins tokenization wave
The pilot project was implemented through the bank’s AstFundi platform, which allows BNP Paribas to test the integration of public chains into highly regulated fund structures.
However, the bank maintains strict control over digital assets.
Tokenized shares use a permission-specific access model, meaning that holdings and transfers are limited cryptographically by whitelists of authorized participants who meet strict compliance standards.
BNP Paribas said that the initiative was implemented as a unique and limited experiment within the group, and allowed the bank to test complete new processes from issuing and transfer agency to tokenization and connection to the public chain, in a controlled and regulated framework. description.
This closed-loop approach reflects a growing consensus among institutional asset managers, where their desire to use the establishment infrastructure of public networks such as Ethereum is clearly evident.
However, these companies still need strict access controls as in traditional financial systems.
It should be noted that this initiative comes later Previous BNP Paribas experience That used a private chain in Luxembourg, this change signals a cautious institutional move towards public networks to achieve the potential for wider interoperability in the future.
Money market funds have emerged as a major testing ground for Wall Street’s blockchain ambitions. For institutional investors, the tokenization of these funds provides a regulated, high-yield alternative to traditional cash-backed stablecoins.
In addition, traditional fund processing is based on slow liquidation systems based on intermittent payments, resulting in a freezing of capital, while tokenization allows atomic and almost instantaneous liquidation, significantly improving capital efficiency.
“This second issue of tokenized money market funds, this time using a public chain architecture, supports our ongoing efforts to explore how tokenization can contribute to enhancing operational efficiency and security in a regulated framework,” said Edouard LeGrand, Chief Digital Officer and Data Officer of BNP Paribas Asset Management, in a statement.
At the same time, BNP Paribas joined a crowded field of traditional blue-chips, such as BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Fidelity Investments, all of which have launched money market funds tokenized in Ethereum.
Token Terminal data revealed that Ethereum currently dominates the tokenized asset market, leading to stablecoins, commodities, and tokenized funds.
The total market capitalization of real-world tokenized assets on the Ethereum ecosystem, excluding stablecoins, recently exceeded $15 billion, increasing nearly 200% year-on-year.
