BlackRock Takes a Major Step into Decentralized Finance (DeFi) with Its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL)

On Thursday, BlackRock announced the fund's first direct integration with a DeFi protocol through Euler, a popular lending platform on the Avalanche blockchain.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has taken a major step into decentralized finance (DeFi) with its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). On Thursday, BlackRock announced the fund’s first direct integration with a DeFi protocol—Euler, a popular lending platform on the Avalanche blockchain. This integration marks a significant milestone for institutional finance's entry into blockchain-based decentralized ecosystems.

The integration was developed by blockchain innovators Re7 Labs and Securitize, with additional incentives provided by Merkl in the form of AVAX rewards. These incentives aim to encourage participation from sBUIDL token holders, the ERC-20 tokenized version of BUIDL, allowing investors to earn extra rewards while engaging with DeFi tools.

Securitize, which manages the vault system for sBUIDL issuance, explained that this new functionality optimizes the value proposition by combining traditional asset stability with DeFi’s dynamic yield opportunities.

Blackrock Backed sBUIDL Launches on Avalanche

Securitize introduced sBUIDL as a composable, blockchain-native ERC-20 token minted from the BUIDL fund. Investors lock BUIDL shares backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements in Securitize’s vault to mint sBUIDL tokens. These tokens maintain full 1:1 redeemability for the underlying BUIDL shares, ensuring investors' exposure to stable, government-backed assets remains intact while gaining access to DeFi functionality.

Through this integration, sBUIDL holders can now use their tokens as collateral on Euler’s lending platform within the Avalanche ecosystem. It enables them to borrow stablecoins such as USDC or Avalanche’s native AUSD, all while earning AVAX rewards and benefiting from the underlying yield generated by the BUIDL fund.

Avalanche’s blockchain network was chosen for this innovative integration due to its high throughput, EVM compatibility, sub-second transaction finality, and low transaction fees. These features make Avalanche an ideal environment for institutional deployments seeking efficiency and scalability.

The BUIDL fund, valued at over $500 million, targets a stable $1 per token value and pays out daily dividends directly to investors' wallets. Avalanche’s efficient infrastructure lowers the operational costs for the fund compared to other blockchain networks, further boosting investor returns.

BlackRock Brings Institutional Assets to DeFi via BUIDL

BlackRock’s move to integrate BUIDL with a DeFi protocol highlights a broader trend of traditional financial institutions exploring blockchain technology to expand investment opportunities. By tokenizing a fund that invests in secure, short-term U.S. government debt, BlackRock offers institutional investors a familiar asset class with enhanced flexibility through blockchain.

This collaboration not only brings stability and credibility to the DeFi space but also opens new avenues for yield generation on otherwise idle cash or stablecoin holdings. It signals a critical step toward mainstream adoption of DeFi tools by large financial institutions.

Avalanche’s role in this development further amplifies the blockchain's appeal to asset managers like J.P. Morgan, Citi, Wellington Management, KKR, and Franklin Templeton, all of whom have integrated or are exploring digital asset strategies on Avalanche.