BNP Paribas Asset Management has issued a tokenised share class of an existing money market fund.
This move marks a new step in its exploration of fund tokenisation using public blockchain infrastructure.
The project involved the issuance of a tokenised share class of the French-domiciled BNP Paribas Asset Management money market fund on the public Ethereum network via BNP Paribas’ AssetFoundryTM platform.
The tokenised shares are issued under a permissioned access model, restricting holdings and transfers to eligible and authorised participants exclusively. The restrictions are in line with applicable regulatory requirements.
This initiative follows BNP Paribas Asset Management’s earlier tokenised money market fund issuance in Luxembourg on a private blockchain. This second tokenised money market fund project was implemented using a different technological and operational setup through a public blockchain.
Leveraging the group’s integrated model
The project utilises the joint expertise of BNP Paribas Asset Management, CIB AssetFoundryTM and BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business:
- BNP Paribas Asset Management acted as the fund issuer.
- BNP Paribas Securities Services business acted as transfer agent and fund dealing services provider, as well as operating the wallet setup and holding the private key within the scope of this controlled intra‑group pilot.
- BNP Paribas CIB’s AssetFoundryTM platform provided the tokenisation and connectivity layer to the public blockchain network.
The initiative was conducted as a one‑off, limited intra‑group experiment, enabling the group to test new end‑to‑end processes within a controlled and regulated framework.
Public blockchain with permissioned access
The tokenised fund shares were issued on the public Ethereum network with permissioned tokens ensuring that only eligible participants can hold and transfer the tokens, while benefiting from the strength and broad adoption of public blockchain infrastructure.
This approach allowed BNP Paribas and BNP Paribas Asset Management to evaluate how public blockchains can be integrated into regulated fund structures.
“BNP Paribas’ AssetFoundryTM platform delivers key digital-assets capabilities, from tokenisation to network connectivity and wallet-related functionalities within a controlled setup. This initiative allows us to better understand the operational and governance implications of tokenisation for money market funds.” Julien Clausse, head of AssetFoundryTM (Digital Assets & Tokenisation) at BNP Paribas CIB.
Access our full interview with Julien Clausse, originally published in issue 1 of Capital Pioneer.
