Tokenization is rapidly moving from experimentation to infrastructure, as some of the world’s largest asset managers begin to treat blockchain-based fund structures as a core part of their long-term strategy rather than a side project.

Over the past year, momentum has accelerated sharply. Major firms are no longer testing small pilots – they are deploying live products, allocating real capital, and building multi-chain systems designed to operate at institutional scale. The shift signals a broader change in how traditional finance views blockchain: not as a speculative layer, but as plumbing for future markets.

Key Takeaways

• Tokenization is moving from trials to core asset management infrastructure.

• Large institutions are already running tokenized funds at meaningful scale.

• Multi-chain and hybrid blockchain setups are becoming the standard.

One of the clearest signals comes from BlackRock, whose BUIDL tokenized treasury fund has crossed the $500 million mark. Built on Ethereum via Securitize, the fund allows on-chain settlement while maintaining the regulatory standards expected by large institutions. It has quickly become the largest tokenized treasury product currently in operation.

Private markets are moving just as fast. Hamilton Lane has tokenized more than $2.1 billion across private equity and credit strategies, offering investors blockchain-based access to assets that have traditionally been illiquid and operationally complex. Rather than chasing decentralization for its own sake, the firm has focused on efficiency, transparency, and improved investor access.

Institutions Are Choosing Different Chains for Different Jobs

What stands out is that there is no single “winning” blockchain. Asset managers are increasingly deploying across multiple networks depending on regulatory needs, settlement requirements, and client preferences.

Franklin Templeton has expanded its on-chain money market funds across Stellar, Polygon, and Ethereum, reflecting a strategy built around flexibility rather than exclusivity. WisdomTree has taken a similar approach, integrating tokenized ETFs and funds directly with digital wallets to reduce friction between traditional and digital finance.

Meanwhile, custody remains a critical piece of the puzzle. Fidelity has quietly built one of the largest institutional digital asset custody operations, supporting tokenization services alongside traditional safeguarding. In Europe, Société Générale has issued digital bonds through its SG Forge unit, while Japan’s MUFG Trust is piloting real estate and fund tokenization within a domestic, permissioned DLT framework.

Why Tokenization Is Scaling Now

Several forces are converging. Regulatory clarity in key jurisdictions has reduced uncertainty. Institutional-grade custody and compliance tooling has matured. At the same time, asset managers are recognizing that public blockchains, permissioned ledgers, and jurisdiction-specific DLTs are complementary rather than competing systems.

The result is a pragmatic architecture: public chains for liquidity and interoperability, private or permissioned networks for regulatory alignment, and multi-chain strategies that allow assets to move where they are most efficient.

Tokenization is no longer about proving that funds can exist on-chain. That question has already been answered. The focus now is scale, integration, and operational efficiency.

For asset management, the future is not simply digital. It is increasingly tokenized.