원문 보기
In 2017, Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, called Bitcoin a barometer of the world's money laundering needs. Eight years later, he wrote that every stock, every bond, every investment fund could be tokenized. Yet BlackRock's own tokenized funds don't contain a single cryptocurrency. To understand this, we first need to clarify what tokenization is.
This is a very easily misunderstood area. Tokenization is not about creating a new coin. It involves recording ownership of an existing asset onto a blockchain. Previously, your ownership percentage in a fund was recorded in the books of an intermediary company . Tokenization transfers that ledger to the blockchain.
The assets themselves remain unchanged; only the methods of recording and transferring ownership have changed. The clearest example is BUIDL, BlackRock's first tokenized fund . This fund launched on Ethereum in March 2024. It is a money market fund. The funds in the fund consist of cash and U.S. Treasury bonds, the most familiar assets in traditional finance.
Each token is just a fraction of that fund recorded on the blockchain. And this fund is not open to everyone. BUIDL is only for investors who meet the eligibility requirements under U.S. securities law, meaning institutions and investors with very large asset sizes. So why would someone who once criticized Bitcoin now talk so much about tokenization?
Looking back at what he wrote, a fairly clear thread emerges. In late March 2025, Fink wrote in a letter to investors that all assets could be tokenized. And if that happens, it will completely change the way we invest. The market doesn't need to close. Transactions that currently take days can be completed in seconds.
Pay attention to the words "may" and "if". He didn't say all assets would be tokenized. He said it could happen, and if it did , the consequences would be enormous. In early December 2025, Fink wrote in The Economist alongside BlackRock's chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein. They compared today's tokenization to the internet in 1996, which is a very early stage.
According to them, tokenized real assets still represent only a small fraction of the global market. Nevertheless, it has increased by approximately 300% in 20 months. In its latest annual letter in March 2026, Fink called tokenization a way to upgrade the pipeline of the financial system . He wrote that half the world's population has a digital wallet on their phone.
Then he said to imagine that the wallet also allowed for long-term investments as easily as transferring a sum of money. But there's one recurring point in almost every instance of his speech: Fink always includes the condition that there must be a way to verify digital identity, that buyers must be protected, and that there must be a standard for the risks involved when the other party fails to fulfill their obligations.
This is not an unconditional encouragement. That's what they say, but what about their actions? Since its launch, BUIDL has expanded to many blockchains other than Ethereum. In November 2025, Binance began accepting BUIDL as collateral for institutional clients. This means that instead of letting a stablecoin sit idle as collateral, the organization can use fund certificates that are still generating interest from US Treasury bonds.
BlackRock also manages the majority of the reserves held behind USDC. According to Fink's 2026 letter, BlackRock is managing approximately $65 billion in reserves for stablecoins. In May 2026, BlackRock filed for two new funds with certificates registered on the blockchain. According to reports, these two funds launched in early August on Solana, Ethereum, and a third network.
The conditions remain the same: for organizations only , a minimum of $3 million USD, and the wallet must be approved and linked to a verified identity . The assets inside still consist of cash and U.S. Treasury bonds. Putting these pieces together, one sentence in The Economist's article becomes particularly noteworthy.
Fink and Goldstein wrote that bonds remain bonds even when they are on the blockchain. The key distinction lies here. BlackRock did not create a new asset class. They are putting old assets, things they used to manage, onto a new path. That road runs day and night and transfers happen quickly. It can be used as collateral and it's in the wallet on the phone.
Pay attention to where the money is going. The funds behind the stablecoin are deposited into a fund managed by BlackRock. Collateral on the crypto exchange can be BlackRock fund certificates . In other words, the crypto world is becoming a channel for traditional assets managed by BlackRock to reach new users, and BlackRock collects management fees on those assets .
This is how you interpret what they say and do; Fink didn't say it directly like that. But it explains why someone who used to criticize Bitcoin is now talking so much about tokenization. One more point: the tokenized world that Fink describes is not anonymous. The wallet must be approved and linked to a real identity.
It's quite different from the image of decentralized crypto that many people are familiar with. It should also be said, to be fair, that BlackRock is not outside of crypto. They still have exchange-traded funds linked to digital assets. According to the letter, this sector is worth nearly $80 billion in 2026, but that's a different sector altogether.
The tokenization sector revolves around traditional assets. So, what Fink saw wasn't actually a secret. He wrote about this publicly in letters to investors and in newspapers. The difference lies in where the reader looks: the coin price or the pipeline. The vision is grand, but how far have we actually progressed?
According to data from rwa.xyz on September 25, 2026, all tokenized US Treasury bond funds have a total value of approximately $15 billion. This figure has decreased by more than 7% in just the previous 30 days, with BUIDL of approximately $2.2 billion now ranking third in this group. To put it into perspective, BlackRock manages approximately $14 trillion, and BUIDL represents less than 0.02% of that amount.
If we consider all real assets that have been tokenized, excluding stablecoins, the size in May 2026 would only be around $31 billion. Fink himself called it the year 1996 of tokenization. The current vision is that all assets and tangible products are primarily cash reserves for the organization, and the scale has not yet followed an upward trend.
So what does this mean for someone who holds crypto ? You may be holding or planning to buy RWA-branded tokens because you think you're aligned with BlackRock. If so, a clear distinction needs to be made . Tokens from a tokenization infrastructure project do not give you any rights to the assets in BlackRock's fund.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that BlackRock's push for tokenization has caused the price of those tokens to increase. If you want to invest in such a project, evaluate it as a standalone project. If you're holding stablecoins, the closer the connection, the reserve funds behind USDC are largely held in funds managed by Blackrock.
But yield-generating tokenized funds like BUIDL are currently only available to institutions and qualified investors. If you're holding Bitcoin or ETH and reading the Blackrock news as a bullish signal, you should pause for a moment. BUIDL runs on Ethereum, but the assets inside are bonds, not ETH. Blackrock's tokenization of its cash fund is not evidence for the price of ETH or Bitcoin.
Regarding the question of which channels Vietnamese people can legally use to purchase tokenized funds abroad, it's premature to jump to conclusions. Given the current conditions of Blackrock funds, the average individual investor is almost certainly not eligible to buy. The broader legal aspects need to be considered separately.
So what should we do today? There's no need to do anything just because we heard Blackrock talk about tokenization. No need to transfer money or buy any tokens just because of the name Blackrock. And if someone offers you a small amount of money to buy Blackrock's tokenized product, be wary. The tokenized products that Blackrock has announced are only available to institutions or qualified investors.
There are two milestones worth watching. First, there's the day Blackrock launches a tokenized product for retail investors, if that happens. Monday in Vietnam marks the first time the Ministry of Finance has licensed the provision of cryptocurrency services. This is expected to happen in 2026. It's worth noting that the current pilot framework excludes securities.
Therefore, tokenized fund certificates like BUIDL are most likely not yet within that framework. When either of these milestones is reached, ask four questions: Who is buying? What assets are inside the token? Who owns that property? And what rights does the token give me? Bonds remain bonds even when they are on the blockchain.
What Blackrock is replacing is the pipeline, not the property. Thank you for watching this far. Remember to subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out when Vietnam grants its first exchange license or when tokenization truly opens its doors to retail investors .
Comments 0