‘Growing investor appetite’ in tokenized fund space: UBS

Also in the tokenized fund space, Franklin Templeton launches on Base and Securitize hits $1 billion in tokenized RWA onchain

article-image

nitpicker/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


It’s been a minute since we checked in on the activity over in the tokenized fund space. 

Late Friday, UBS — the Swiss bank with $5.7 trillion in assets under management — announced that it was launching uMINT, or the UBS USD Investment Fund built on Ethereum. 

“Tokenholders can now access UBS Asset Management’s institutional grade cash management solutions underpinned by high quality money market instruments based on a conservative, risk-managed framework,” the press release said. So it’s unfortunately a bit unclear what financial instruments will make up the fund, whereas other popular funds right now hold US Treasurys. 

To give you some perspective: roughly $2.4 billion of total real-world asset value is US Treasury debt, with commodities coming in second at $1.1 billion, per RWA.xyz data. To be clear, the below chart isn’t including Treasurys held by stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Tether.

The co-head of UBS Asset Management APAC, Thomas Kaegi, acknowledged the “growing investor appetite” in the space. Right now, three firms: BlackRock through its Securitize partnership, Franklin Templeton and Ondo dominate the tokenized fund space. 

While BlackRock’s BUIDL and Franklin’s funds might be some of the most well-known, it’s actually Ondo that holds the biggest market cap at $655. Securitize is about $100 million shy, coming in at $533 million (which is BUIDL’s market cap). Franklin Templeton has a market cap of roughly $408 million.

A look at the biggest tokenized treasury funds

UBS itself acknowledged that this launch is a sign that the firm is serious about the potential of tokenization, which isn’t a surprise given that it’s a participant in the Project Guardian initiative (the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s tokenization pilot) and has previously partnered to issue tokenized notes in China.

Outside of UBS, it’s worth noting that Securitize surpassed $1 billion in tokenized RWA onchain last week. As I noted above, the RWA platform has seen success through BlackRock’s tokenized fund. And Franklin Templeton launched its OnChain US Government Money Market Fund on Base. 

Tokenization may not be one of the sexiest crypto topics, but there certainly is a lot of movement happening in the space.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

report_image.png

Research

Tokenized private equity platforms like PreStocks and Ventuals could democratize access to the $175B private equity secondary market by expanding participation from roughly 13 million accredited investors to over 100 million retail investors through blockchain-based trading infrastructure. However, both platforms represent high-risk ventures betting on unvalidated market demand, where technological capability has matured but regulatory clarity and sustainable liquidity remain unproven.

article-image

Following a roundtable, the startup emerges as frontrunner, despite entries from Paxos, Ethena, and others

article-image

The race to bid for the USDH ticker heats up

article-image

Sponsored

Esports-style DeFi competition powered by BNB Chain and Aster, live from New York on October 7, 2025

by Sponsored /
article-image

Collaboration will assess blockchain-based fund infrastructure and tokenization opportunities under regulatory frameworks

by Blockworks /
article-image

Tempo might ultimately test what people will pay for decentralization