Crypto ETF issuer and asset manager BlackRock announced on Wednesday the expansion of its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) to include five new blockchain ecosystems: Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Polygon. 

Initially launched on the Ethereum network in March 2024, BUIDL rapidly gained traction among investors, becoming the largest tokenized fund globally regarding assets under management (AUM) within just 40 days.

The expansion will allow BUIDL to interact with more blockchain-based financial products and infrastructures. BlackRock aims to enhance accessibility for investors, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and digital asset firms, enabling them to leverage BUIDL within the ecosystems of their choice.

Carlos Domingo, CEO and co-founder of Securitize, the firm responsible for tokenizing BUIDL, emphasized the importance of this multi-chain approach in Wednesday’s press release by saying: 

Real-world asset tokenization is scaling, and we’re excited to have these blockchains added to increase the potential of the BUIDL ecosystem. With these new chains we’ll start to see more investors looking to leverage the underlying technology to increase efficiencies on all the things that until now have been hard to do.

With the addition of these blockchains, BlackRock aims to provide increased options and access for investors, allowing developers to build applications that integrate seamlessly with the BUIDL fund.

BNY Mellon, which recently received a Bitcoin and crypto custody license for institutional services, will play a key role in this initiative as the fund administrator and custodian for BUIDL. 

On the crypto ETF front, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, has reached a remarkable milestone, surpassing the $40 billion mark in assets under management (AUM) just two weeks after hitting $30 billion. 

This achievement comes in a record 211 days, shattering the previous record of 1,253 days held by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG). 

IBIT is now positioned in the top 1% of all ETFs by assets and at just 10 months old, it has outperformed all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past decade, according to ETF expert Eric Balchunas.

Balchunas further highlighted that Bitcoin ETFs collectively have crossed the $90 billion asset threshold, following a significant $6 billion surge in the past few days. 

This increase comprises $1 billion in new inflows and $5 billion in market appreciation. The growing popularity of Bitcoin ETFs indicates that they are now 72% of the way toward surpassing gold ETFs in total assets.

The rise in Bitcoin ETF assets has coincided with a surge in investor confidence, particularly following Donald Trump’s recent victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential elections. 

This political shift has positively influenced market sentiment, contributing to a broader uptick in cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin, in particular, has experienced a substantial rally, climbing over 24% to reach a record high of $93,000 in the past week alone.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

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