Wall Street Giants Goldman Sachs & BNY Mellon Bet Big on Tokenized Money Market Funds
Traditional finance finally catches up—by copying crypto's homework.
Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon just flipped the switch on institutional-grade tokenized money market funds, merging TradFi's plumbing with blockchain's efficiency. No more clunky settlements, no more legacy system bottlenecks—just programmable yield machines for the suits.
Why now? Because even dinosaurs recognize daylight when they see it. While these funds won't moon like memecoins, they're the Trojan horse for mass institutional adoption. The real story? The old guard is quietly building the rails for a tokenized everything future—they just won't admit it yet.
Bonus jab: Nothing gets banks moving faster than FOMO... and the fear of being out-earned by a DeFi protocol run by anonymous degens.
BlackRock and Fidelity Funds Already Available
Clients can invest in tokenized share classes of money market funds managed by BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, Federated Hermes, and the asset management divisions of both Goldman and BNY. The product is built for institutional users, including hedge funds, pension funds, and corporates.
BNY’s LiquidityDirect and @GoldmanSachs’ Digital Asset Platform have collaborated to launch tokenized money market funds (MMFs).
This significant initiative sets our clients on a path to access a new capability to increase the utility and potential transferability of MMFs in… pic.twitter.com/WJ1lv7m6T4
“We have created the ability for our clients to invest in tokenized money market share classes across a number of fund companies,” said Laide Majiyagbe, Global Head of Liquidity, Financing, and Collateral at BNY.
“The step of tokenizing is important, because today that will enable seamless and efficient transactions, without the frictions that happen in traditional markets,” said Majiyagbe.
Unlike stablecoins, which serve primarily as a medium of exchange, tokenized money market funds offer yield and may function as cash-equivalent holdings for large financial institutions.
According to Goldman and BNY, the funds could eventually be transferred between financial intermediaries without first converting to fiat currency.
Goldman Sachs and BNY Target $7.1 Billion Market
Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, said the structure supports future use in collateral and trade settlement. “The sheer scale of this market just offers a huge opportunity to create a lot more efficiency across the whole financial plumbing,” he said.
“That is what’s really powerful, because you’re creating utility in an instrument where it doesn’t exist today,” said McDermott.
The firms see this step as supporting real-time settlement and reducing operational frictions tied to traditional finance infrastructure. They also framed it as complementary to regulatory developments such as the recent GENIUS Act, which establishes a federal framework for stablecoins.
According to the report, U.S. money market funds hold about $7.1 trillion in assets, with roughly $2.5 trillion flowing into the space since the Federal Reserve began raising rates in 2022. Most are backed by short-term government or commercial debt.
The service is currently limited to institutional users and fund providers participating in the platform.
Institutional interest in programmable finance is growing, and assets like money market funds can be embedded into automated workflows across settlement, margining, and treasury operations. Such tokenized instruments could play a central role in modernizing how institutions manage liquidity and collateral across global markets.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the tax implications for institutions holding tokenized fund shares?While ownership structure remains similar to traditional funds, the digital nature may raise questions around jurisdiction, timing of income recognition, and reporting obligations.
Could tokenized funds allow 24/7 liquidity access?If integrated with global custodians and interoperable ledgers, institutions may eventually MOVE capital between regions outside of standard market hours.
What legal structures govern these digital fund shares?Each share remains subject to existing securities regulation, but the ownership ledger is now maintained on a permissioned blockchain, allowing traceability without changing asset classification.
