Securitize Inc., a compliance and tokenization firm using blockchain technology to tokenize real-world assets, announced Wednesday that it raised $47 million in funding led by multinational investment manager BlackRock Inc.

The company uses digital ledger blockchain technology to create a secure digital representation of securities, such as stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds. Using its platform these securities and tokens are represented on an immutable transaction record and gain the benefit of tamperproof, auditable histories and reduced transaction risk.

Securitize handles code compliance for exchanging digital securities and enables investors and issuers to handle the day-to-day work of transacting. The company also runs a marketplace that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer.

Other strategic investors joining the round included blockchain developer Aptos Labs, alongside stablecoin issuers Circle Internet Financial Inc. and Paxos Trust Co. LLC. The company said that it would use the funds to accelerate product development, expand globally and seek further partnerships within the financial services industry.

“In our view, the transformative potential of blockchain technology to reshape the future of finance in general – and tokenization in particular – is promising,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Carlos Domingo.

This announcement comes shortly after the launch of BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund in March, the management firm’s first tokenized fund issued on a public blockchain. The firm joined with Securitize to provide qualified investors the opportunity to earn U.S. dollar yields through Securitize Markets LLC, the broker-dealer arm of Securitize.

“This is the latest progression of our digital assets strategy,” said Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets. “We are focused on developing solutions in the digital assets space that help solve real problems for our clients.”

Since its launch, BUIDL has grown to $385 million in assets under management, according to the Dune Analytics dashboard. BUIDL looks to offer a stable value of $1 per token and pays daily accrued dividends as new tokens each month. The fund invests its assets in U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, creating a stable yield for investors while holding blockchain tokens.

Asset tokenization is a growing market and has been explored by several different blockchain companies as a means to provide investment opportunities for securities, commodities and real-world assets. Examples include Fine Wine Capital AG, which partnered with Syngum Bank AG to track fine wine assets in Swiss markets. Similarly, blockchain-based real estate platform RealBlocks developed a platform that tokenizes properties and turns them into tradable securities.

Photo: Pixabay