Major UK asset manager Abrdn has launched its first blockchain-based investment by tokenizing part of its £15 billion Lux Sterling money market fund. The token was issued on the Hedera Hashgraph DLT, where Abrdn is on the governing council. It used the Archax Tokenisation Engine to mint the token.
“We made the investment into Archax because we see the future for financial markets lies with leveraging new technologies, such as Web 3.0 and DLT,” said Russell Barlow, Global Head of Alternatives at abrdn. “It is exciting to see a tangible application of Archax’s tokenisation engine working with Hedera and it paves the way for us to look at creating other digital, blockchain-based token investment solutions.”
Archax has three arms, a regulated exchange or multilateral trading facility (MTF), its Tokenisation Engine for Issuance, and a custody subsidiary based on technology from Metaco.
Barlow hinted at Abrdn’s plans to issue tokens on Hedera in April. At the time, he noted that the token is a regulated security and hence is covered by Abrdn’s existing regulatory permissions.
He said, “Where we really see the opportunity is in the broader adoption of digital securities as the next evolution of the market infrastructure.”
Abdrn is the first major UK asset manager to issue a tokenized security. The UK Treasury is currently exploring fund tokenization after the UK’s Investment Association called for the government and FCA to create a framework for tokenized funds. Fund distribution firm Calastone wants to see the entire workflow that underpins a fund tokenized as well.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Franklin Templeton has a dedicated on-chain money market fund that has assets under management of more than $270 million.
