TradFi fund manager Baillie Gifford introduces Solana, Ethereum tokenized fund with BNY

Baillie Gifford, a 118-year-old investment firm based in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, unveiled a fixed-income tokenized fund in association with global custody giant BNY, the companies said on Monday.

Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund (BAGEY) is denominated in dollars, and gives eligible investors access to an actively managed, short-duration portfolio of public corporate bonds using the Ethereum and Solana public blockchains, according to a press release.

The fund is operated through a U.K.-regulated Open-Ended Investment Company (OEIC), a type of collective investment fund structured as a limited liability company that spreads capital from multiple investors across equities or bonds.

The fund, which currently offers a yield of around 7%, will be available to eligible investors in the U.K., Switzerland and Cayman Islands, subject to applicable laws, regulations and distribution restrictions.

Tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) has taken the traditional finance world by storm, but merely wrapping legacy infrastructure in a digital layer will not fundamentally improve finance, said Theo Golden, head of digital assets and tokenization at Baillie Gifford.

“The Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund is not a token placed on top of a fund. It is a fund issued onchain, with the blockchain serving as the register of record. Investors hold the fund directly: direct ownership, direct recourse,” Golden said in a statement.

BNY will provide tokenization and wallet infrastructure for the fund, while NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services will act as the fund’s depositary.

“Tokenisation has moved from concept to real-world application, and this launch shows how regulated fund structures can evolve to meet the needs of a more digital, connected marketplace,” said Katey Neate, global head of investor solutions at BNY.

Both Baillie Gifford and BNY were added to the Financial Conduct Authority's list of registered crypto companies.

UPDATE (June 22, 15:36 UTC): Adds FCA approval in third bullet point, last paragraph.

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

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