Baillie Gifford has launched the Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund (BAGEY) with BNY, the first publicly available, fully native UK-regulated tokenised fund.
The fund, which is denominated in dollars, will offer access to an actively managed, short-duration portfolio of public corporate bonds through a UK-regulated OEIC structure on Ethereum and Solana.
Tokens are issued directly as the investor’s holding in the fund, with public blockchains used as the legal source of truth for ownership. Rather than wrapping an existing product, the asset is truly native.
The Enhanced Yield portfolio currently offers a yield of c.7%, with two-year duration and an average credit quality of BBB.
The fund is daily-dealt, and will be available to eligible investors in the UK, Switzerland and Cayman Islands, subject to applicable laws, regulations and distribution restrictions.
BNY will be providing tokenisation and wallet infrastructure for the fund, supporting a direct issuance model designed to reduce operational complexity and improve transparency. NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services Limited will act as the fund’s Depositary.
Theo Golden, head of digital assets and tokenisation at Baillie Gifford, said: “Tokenisation will only matter if it makes finance fundamentally better. A digital wrapper around yesterday’s infrastructure is not enough. Clients do not need novelty for its own sake; they need cleaner ownership, stronger governance, faster settlement and infrastructure they can trust.
“That is what native issuance changes. The Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund is not a token placed on top of a fund. It is a fund issued onchain, with the blockchain serving as the register of record. Investors hold the fund directly: direct ownership, direct recourse.”
Katey Neate, global head of investor solutions at BNY, said: “Tokenisation has moved from concept to real-world application, and this launch shows how regulated fund structures can evolve to meet the needs of a more digital, connected marketplace.”
Eligible professional investors can mint and redeem fund tokens directly using stablecoins or fiat, with a minimum investment of $100.
Stuart Dunbar, partner at Baillie Gifford, said: “Long-termism is at the core of Baillie Gifford. It’s how we approach markets, technology and client needs. Tokenisation is not a short-term theme for us, but an integral evolution in how financial products may be built, distributed and used over time.”
