- In order to provide on-chain ownership records for tokenized funds while preserving conventional processes, BNY is integrating blockchain technology into its $8.6 trillion transfer agency business.
- By utilizing a common blockchain ledger that reduces intermediary reconciliation, the bank hopes to simplify fund administration.
- With companies like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Baillie Gifford investigating blockchain-based investment solutions, tokenized funds are gaining institutional traction.
As part of its long-term digital asset strategy, BNY is implementing blockchain technology in one of its primary fund administration operations. The bank intends to create a hybrid strategy for the expanding market of tokenized funds by integrating blockchain-based ownership records with conventional systems rather than overhauling its current infrastructure.
The 242-year-old financial organization services about $8.6 trillion in assets across 7.6 million transfer agency accounts and protects over $59 trillion in assets under custody and administration. BNY hopes to create a single, shared ownership ledger that minimizes reconciliation labor and simplifies fund administration by putting its transfer agency records on-chain.
BlackRock & Baillie Gifford Back BNY’s Blockchain Platform
The initiative, according to Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at BNY, aims to modernize a function that underpins almost all fund transactions by bringing the “books and records onchain.” For tokenized investment funds, the blockchain ledger will offer a single source of truth rather than several middlemen keeping distinct ownership records.
The bank has made it clear that blockchain will enhance rather than take the place of its conventional transfer agency services. Trillions of dollars in investment funds will continue to run on traditional financial rails for years, according to Emily Portney, Global Head of Asset Servicing at BNY. The organization anticipates that both systems will coexist as tokenization acceptance progressively rises.
The platform will be used by investment manager Baillie Gifford for what is anticipated to be the first tokenized fund with full native U.K. regulation. Tokenized fund products are anticipated to be introduced by BlackRock and Dreyfus, BNY’s money-market and cash-management division, utilizing the new infrastructure.
Blockchain Powers BNY’s Next Phase Of Fund Administration
We’re helping redefine fund servicing. #BNY has launched Digital Transfer Agency (TA) capabilities with @BGDA_UK, @BlackRock and BNY Investments Dreyfus among the first issuers.
Digital TA supports both #tokenized and traditional asset funds in an end-to-end servicing model… pic.twitter.com/2ueLhs69FT
— BNY (@BNYglobal) July 29, 2026
With companies like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton providing blockchain-based ownership tokens backed by conventional assets like cash and short-term government debt, tokenized money-market funds have gained traction in recent years. These solutions aim to combine traditional investing with blockchain technology’s operational advantages.
The most recent action by BNY expands on years of digital asset investment. The bank became one of the first significant worldwide custodians to support both cryptocurrencies when it launched custody services for Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2022 after establishing its Digital Assets section in 2021. In 2026, BNY announced a partnership with Finstreet Limited and the ADI Foundation to offer regulated crypto custody services in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and it also extended its agreement with Circle to support USDC minting and burning.
In the future, BNY is planning more pilot transactions on its private blockchain as well as tokenized U.S. Treasury offers. The bank performed after-hours Treasury transactions involving stablecoin issuers earlier this year, demonstrating its larger push toward 24-hour settlement capabilities.
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