This $2.5 Billion BlackRock Fund Is Coming to Binance and BNB Chain

BlackRock’s $2.5 billion USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is expanding to Binance and BNB Chain, Securitize said in a press release published on Thursday.

The Miami-based Securitize, which is planning a public offering, said that BUIDL will be accepted as collateral for trades at the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, describing the asset backed by U.S. Treasuries as a tool for institutional traders.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund debuted last March, and the tokenized money market fund has expanded to eight blockchains since, now including the Binance-backed network that dates back to 2019.

“We’re continuing to bring regulated real-world assets on-chain while unlocking new forms of utility that were previously out of reach,” co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said in a statement.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, which has around 93 holders, offers a yield. Over the past week, that has averaged 3.7% on an annualized basis, according to crypto data provider RWA.XYZ.

Binance’s institutional clients have been asking the exchange for more interest-bearing assets that maintain a stable price, Catherine Chen, head of VIP and institutional at Binance, said in a statement.

Chen added that BUIDL was integrated into Ceffu, a Binance-owned custody service, which drew U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny in 2023 over its ability to potentially control assets that belonged to Binance’s U.S. affiliate.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering in 202, was pardoned by President Trump in October. The move has drawn pushback among crypto U.S. Democratic lawmakers. Still, BlackRock’s BUIDL fund represents the latest sign of how Wall Street firms are embracing the exchange’s services and products.

This year, retail brokerage Robinhood, as well as crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, have listed BNB, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.

The coin changed hands around $924 on Friday, representing a 3.4% fall over the past day. The asset hit an all-time high of $1,370 last month, while rising 48% over the past year, but has fallen in recent weeks alongside Bitcoin and most of the market.