BlackRock’s BUIDL Shows Tokenized Securities Can Work at Scale With $100M in Payouts

BlackRock’s first tokenized money market fund has reached a major milestone, paying out more than $100 million in cumulative dividends since its launch. 

The figure shows how tokenized securities are moving beyond experimentation and into real-world use by large institutions seeking blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

The milestone was announced Monday by Securitize, which serves as the issuer and tokenization partner for the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, known as BUIDL. Securitize oversees the fund’s onchain issuance, investor onboarding, and compliance framework.

BlackRock’s Entry Into Tokenized Finance

Launched in March 2024, BUIDL marked BlackRock’s first tokenized fund product and one of the most prominent institutional deployments of tokenized real-world assets to date. The fund was initially issued on the Ethereum network, signaling confidence in public blockchains as settlement layers for regulated financial products.

BUIDL is designed to closely resemble a traditional money market fund. It invests in short-term, U.S. dollar–denominated assets, including Treasury bills, repurchase agreements, and cash equivalents. 

The key difference lies in how ownership and cash flows are represented, with fund shares issued as blockchain-based tokens rather than recorded through conventional custody systems.

How BUIDL Operates Onchain

Investors purchase BUIDL tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar, with each token representing a proportional interest in the fund. Income generated by the underlying assets is distributed directly to token holders through onchain dividend payments.

That structure distinguishes tokenized money market funds from stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a fixed value but typically do not pass through yield. In BUIDL’s case, holders receive income derived from real Treasury yields, with distributions executed programmatically onchain.

Supporters argue that this approach demonstrates how blockchain technology can preserve the core economic characteristics of traditional financial products while improving operational efficiency through faster settlement, transparent ownership records, and automated distributions.

$100 Million In Real Treasury Yield

The $100 million milestone represents lifetime dividends paid to BUIDL investors since launch. Crucially, these payouts are sourced from actual income generated by U.S. government debt and cash instruments, rather than incentives or protocol emissions.

Market participants view the figure as a key proof point for tokenized securities at scale. It shows that regulated, yield-bearing products can function on public blockchains while maintaining the risk profile and cash-management role familiar to institutional investors.

BUIDL has also seen rapid asset growth. Earlier this year, the fund’s value surpassed $2 billion, and at its peak in October, assets under management exceeded $2.8 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz. The fund remains one of the largest single tokenized real-world asset products currently live.

BUIDL overview (Source: RWA.xyz)

Expansion Across Multiple Blockchains

Since its initial launch on Ethereum, BUIDL has expanded to additional networks, including Solana, Aptos, Avalanche, and Optimism.

The multi-chain strategy signals growing institutional demand for flexibility as tokenized assets are increasingly used for onchain settlement, treasury management, and collateral across different blockchain ecosystems.

Growing Interest And Regulatory Scrutiny

Tokenized money market funds have emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of the onchain real-world asset market. Their appeal lies in delivering money market–style returns with reduced operational friction, a dynamic that has begun to draw sustained interest from traditional financial institutions.

Some analysts see these products as a potential counterweight to the expected expansion of stablecoins. In July, JPMorgan strategist Teresa Ho said tokenized money market funds preserve the long-standing appeal of “cash as an asset,” even as regulatory developments such as the GENIUS Act are expected to accelerate stablecoin adoption.

At the same time, global regulators are paying closer attention. The Bank for International Settlements has warned that tokenized money market funds could introduce operational and liquidity risks, particularly if they become an increasingly important source of collateral within digital asset markets.

For now, BUIDL’s $100 million dividend milestone stands as one of the clearest signals yet that tokenized securities are beginning to operate at institutional scale, bridging traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure in a tangible, revenue-generating way.