VanEck entered the tokenized finance universe with the debut of its initial blockchain fund, the VanEck Treasury Fund (VBILL), in collaboration with digital assets platform Securitize. The entry places the asset manager giant together with legacy companies such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton in adopting real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
VBILL provides institutional and accredited investors with on-chain exposure to US Treasury bills with a short duration. The fund exists on Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and BNB Chain, with interoperability across chains facilitated by Wormhole. Investment is recorded on the blockchain directly, enabling the investor to monitor pricing and ownership in real-time.
Minimum investment levels differ per blockchain: $100,000 on Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Solana, and $1 million on Ethereum. 24/7 issuance of shares is facilitated through the USDC stablecoin, allowing round-the-clock access and acceleration of settlement over traditional finance infrastructures.
Though it has a blockchain base, VBILL utilizes conventional financial custodianship. Its assets are held by State Street Bank and Trust Company, with daily net asset value (NAV) computation based on blockchain oracle provider RedStone.
The fund also uses atomic liquidity via Agora’s AUSD stablecoin to enable investors to redeem tokens for stablecoins in an instant through smart contracts in a single blockchain transaction.
“By taking US Treasuries on-chain, we are giving investors a safe, transparent, and liquid vehicle for cash management,” noted Kyle DaCruz, VanEck’s Director of Digital Assets Product. “Tokenized funds such as VBILL are increasing market liquidity and efficiency.”
Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo described the fund as a landmark in digital finance. “This partnership brings together the strongest of Securitize’s end-to-end tokenization model and VanEck’s asset management capability,” he said. Securitize will manage administration, transfer agency, and broker-dealer services for VBILL.
With VBILL, VanEck becomes part of a growing tide of traditional finance companies venturing into tokenization. Apollo introduced a tokenized private credit fund in January. US Treasuries are now one of the largest tokenized asset classes after private credit, with a market cap of $6.9 billion, RWA.xyz reports.
In a recent SEC roundtable, Chair Paul Atkins compared the transition to digital assets to the music business transition from analog to digital. “Blockchain technology has the potential to allow for entirely new ways of issuing, trading, and holding securities,” he stated.