Global asset management company VanEck joins the tokenisation race by launching its first on-chain product

Quick take:

Global asset management company VanEck has become the biggest traditional investment services provider to join the tokenisation race.

On Tuesday, the company announced the launch of the VanEck Treasury Fund (VBILL) which can be accessed by buying the fund’s (fund token) on-chain. The fund is tokenised using the BlackRock-backed real-world asset tokenisation platform, Securitize.

The announcement comes amid a growing trend in the global financial markets where traditional financial services companies continue to embrace blockchain-based products. VanEck follows popular U.S. asset managers BlackRock, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton in launching tokenised products.

According to the announcement on Tuesday, the VanEck tokenised U.S. treasury fund will initially launch on Avalanche, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Solana networks. It requires a minimum investment of $100,000 on most blockchains and $1 million on Ethereum.

Pricing for the fund token will be updated daily using RedStone’s Oracle service, with assets held by State Street.

Commenting on the announcement, Kyle DaCruz, director of digital assets product at VanEck, said in a statement: “By bringing U.S. Treasuries on-chain, we are providing investors with a secure, transparent, and liquid tool for cash management, further integrating digital assets into mainstream financial markets. Tokenized funds like VBILL are enhancing market liquidity and efficiency, underscoring our commitment to providing value to our investors.”

According to the tokenised real-world asset tracking platform RWA.xyz, the value of on-chain tokenised real-world assets has soared to over $22 billion this month, from about $10 billion in April 2024. Treasuries account for $6.91 billion of that value.