BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced Wednesday that it will make shares of its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, BUIDL, tradable on Uniswap, marking the asset manager’s first step toward decentralized finance (DeFi).
As part of the move, BlackRock also disclosed a strategic investment in Uniswap and purchased an undisclosed amount of UNI, Uniswap’s governance token, which jumped 25% on the news, now trading at $4.11.
BUIDL, launching in 2024, is the largest tokenized U.S. Treasury fund on the market with a total value locked of nearly $2.2 billion, according to data from rwa.xyz. It is a blockchain-based fund, backed 100% by US Treasuries and cash, providing on-chain yield.
Its arrival on Uniswap – one of the largest decentralized exchanges – means investors can now trade the tokenized fund in a peer-to-peer environment without a traditional intermediary.
To make this work, BlackRock partnered with Uniswap Labs and Securitize, a company that manages the regulatory and compliance efforts related to the tokenization of real-world assets. BUIDL shares will be available through UniswapX, a trading system that obtains quotes from licensed market makers and settles transactions on the blockchain. All users must be pre-qualified and whitelisted through Securitize, which will facilitate transactions.
“This collaboration with Uniswap Labs alongside Securitize is a notable step in the convergence of tokenized assets with decentralized finance,” Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s global head of digital assets, said in a statement. “The integration of BUIDL into UniswapX marks a major step forward in the interoperability of USD tokenized yield funds with stablecoins.”
DeFi platforms like Uniswap allow users to trade assets, borrow, or earn yield without relying on centralized financial institutions. Instead, they run on smart contracts – self-executing code stored on public blockchains.
Uniswap, in particular, is the largest decentralized exchange on Ethereum . It allows users to trade tokens directly from their wallet, often in seconds. By enabling trading of BUIDL, Uniswap is expanding beyond crypto-native assets into the world of tokenized government bonds.
The integration allows qualified investors to trade BUIDL 24/7 with licensed market makers using stablecoins.
