- Two Abu Dhabi firms have launched a new investment fund that purchases US Treasuries and then tokenizes them on IOTA and Ethereum.
- It’s the first fund of its kind from an Abu Dhabi-based firm, with the ADGM saying it “underscores our commitment to innovation.”
Two firms based in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, have launched an investment fund that will tokenize US Treasuries on the IOTA and Ethereum networks.
Neovision Wealth Management and Realize announced their new investment vehicle on Thursday, as reported by Reuters. The fund—dubbed Realize T-BILLS Fund—will purchase units of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on US Treasury bills and then convert them into tokens that investors can buy, hold, and easily transfer on IOTA and Ethereum. Realize, co-founded by IOTA founder Dominik Schiener, will be charged with tokenizing the ETFs while Neovision will manage the fund.
According to the Reuters report, the new fund will initially only focus on State Street’s SPDR and BlackRock’s iShares, two of the biggest ETFs on Wall Street.
We are excited to announce the launch of Realize T-BILLS Fund (OEIC) Limited, the first tokenized T-Bills fund in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
The $RBILL token will launch on @ethereum and @iota, offering investors exposure to safe and stable yield of U.S. Treasury Bills.… pic.twitter.com/cHpPNZfk7f
— Realize (@realizefinance) October 31, 2024
Realize will issue $RBILL token on the two blockchains, with each token representing units in the fund and the underlying asset: US Treasury bill ETFs.
In an interview with Reuters, Dominik revealed that the goal is to grow the fund to $200 million, making it one of the largest in the space. According to data from rwa.xyz, the total value of tokenized treasuries on various blockchains is currently at $2.36 billion despite a 2.3% dip in the past week.
BlackRock is the outright leader in this sector, following up with its trend of dominating every crypto facet it’s involved in, including Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock launched BUIDL, its first tokenized fund, in March this year on Ethereum. Since then, it has surged to become the biggest in the sector with a value of $550 million at press time. Franklin Templeton, another financial giant, is second with its FOBXX fund at $435 million, while USDY, a tokenized fund from Ondo Finance is third at $405 million.
IOTA and Ethereum Dive Deep into Tokenized Treasuries
Blockchain networks have focused on non-fungible tokens for years, with NFTs at one point becoming one of the most active sectors in the industry. However, with tokenization becoming more widespread, more players are exploring fungible tokens that represent actual value in the real world. This is the market that Realize and its partner target, Dominik told Reuters, stating:
The goal is to bring fungible assets onchain. T-Bills are the most liquid asset today in the real world. They’re also the best form of collateral, paying around 5%.
The new fund is the first of its kind from an Abu Dhabi-based company. Commenting on the development, Arvind Ramamurthy, the Chief Market Development Officer of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), described it as “an important initiative in asset tokenization that underscores our commitment to innovation.”
He added:
As a tokenized investment fund adhering to stringent regulatory standards, it positions the international financial centre of Abu Dhabi as a global leader in real-world asset tokenization. We look forward to their contribution to our vibrant ecosystem.
IOTA trades at $0.1139, gaining marginally over the past day.
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