BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has taken its first direct step into the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. The company announced that it will make its US Treasury bond-backed digital token, BUIDL, available for trading on Uniswap, one of the leading DeFi platforms.
As part of the deal, BlackRock also purchased an undisclosed amount of UNI, Uniswap’s native token.
BlackRock’s BUIDL token, launched in 2024 and reaching a market capitalization of approximately $1.8 billion, will be integrated into the Uniswap infrastructure in collaboration with tokenization company Securitize.
However, access will be limited in the initial phase. Securitize will create a whitelist only for eligible institutional investors. Certain market makers, including cryptocurrency liquidity provider Wintermute, will be included in the system to ensure the smooth running of transactions. Access to BUIDL will be restricted to “qualified investors” with at least $5 million in assets.
Therefore, trading volume on Uniswap is expected to remain limited initially. However, industry representatives argue that this structure is a “pilot model” that could pave the way for the buying and selling of stocks and other traditional assets through DeFi in the future.
In the traditional financial system, transactions are recorded and cleared through centralized intermediaries, whereas DeFi platforms like Uniswap facilitate transactions through smart contracts and liquidity pools.
There is currently over $100 billion in capital invested in DeFi platforms. BlackRock’s entry into this ecosystem is seen as a strong indicator of DeFi’s increasing acceptance in the financial world.
Uniswap founder and CEO Hayden Adams stated that the agreement came about after approximately 1.5 years of negotiations. These meetings reportedly took place at Uniswap’s Hudson Yards offices in Manhattan and at its SoHo headquarters.
*This is not investment advice.
