F/m Investments Seeks SEC Approval to Tokenize Treasury ETF Shares

• F/m Investments seeks SEC approval to tokenize TBIL Treasury ETF shares on a permissioned blockchain.

• The company filed its application on January 21.

F/m Investments, a $18 billion U.S. asset manager, filed a landmark application on January 21 with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval to tokenize shares of its U.S. Treasury 3‑Month Bill ETF (TBIL) on a permissioned blockchain ledger, marking the first investment registered company to tokenize its shares on blockchain, as per the press release. 

As the filing reflects F/m’s broader vision for the future of tokenization in regulated markets, with that, Alexander Morris, CEO of F/m Investments, said, “ Tokenization is coming to securities markets whether we file this application or not. The question is whether it happens inside the regulatory framework investors have relied on for 85 years, or without that set of protections for investors,” 

Blockchain Integration in Mainstream Markets

In F/m’s filing, the tokenization would be applied to a listed Treasury ETF instead of a money market mutual fund, which might expand the range of regulated fixed-income products that are supported by tokens.

If approved, the TBIL ETF could potentially be used on both traditional brokerage accounts and new digital platforms that comprehend tokenized assets, all without altering the fund’s investments. 

Since this proposal would be reflected on a permissioned blockchain ledger, the primary difference is that tokenized shares would not exist as unregistered digital assets floating in the crypto space, rather, they would stay fully within the Investment Company Act of 1940’s legal framework, maintaining third-party custody, daily disclosure requirements, and thorough audit procedures, noted in the press release. 

As this filing came after two days, where New York Stock Exchange unveiled plans for a new venue enabling 24/7 trading and onchain settlement of tokenized stocks and ETFs as it is waiting for approval from SEC. so, the current developments underscore the growing fusion of blockchain technology with long-established financial and regulatory frameworks.

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