On February 11, 2026, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with over $13.5 trillion in assets under management, made its first direct foray into decentralized finance (DeFi). The firm enabled on-chain trading of its flagship tokenized fund — the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) — via UniswapX, the advanced request-for-quote (RFQ) protocol built by Uniswap Labs.
BUIDL, launched in 2024 through the tokenization platform Securitize, is currently the largest tokenized money market fund globally, managing approximately $2.2–2.4 billion in assets (figures vary slightly across reports as of mid-February 2026).
The fund is 100% backed by short-term U.S. Treasury securities and cash equivalents, with tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar while generating yield — effectively serving as a blockchain-native alternative to traditional money market funds.
Unlike typical stablecoins that aim for price stability without yield, BUIDL distributes returns to holders, bridging the gap between conventional fixed-income products and on-chain finance.
How the Integration Works
Trading occurs exclusively through UniswapX, an off-chain RFQ system where professional market makers (including Wintermute, Flowdesk, and Tokka Labs) compete to provide the best executable prices. Once a quote is accepted, settlement happens atomically on-chain via smart contracts, ensuring efficiency and reduced slippage for large institutional-sized orders.
Access remains gated for now: only qualified institutional investors (typically those with at least $5 million in assets) who have completed KYC/AML verification through Securitize can participate.
This maintains regulatory compliance while unlocking 24/7 on-chain liquidity — a key advantage over traditional market hours.
BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets, Robert Mitchnick, described the move as “a notable step in the convergence of tokenized assets with decentralized finance,” highlighting improved interoperability between tokenized yield-bearing USD products and stablecoins.
BlackRock Buys UNI — First DeFi Token on Its Balance Sheet
As part of the partnership, BlackRock disclosed a strategic investment in the Uniswap ecosystem, including the purchase of an undisclosed amount of UNI, the governance token of Uniswap. This marks the first time a DeFi-native governance token has appeared on BlackRock's corporate balance sheet.
The announcement triggered an immediate market reaction: UNI surged 25–40% in the hours following the news (peaking around $4.11–$4.36 from a pre-announcement level near $3.30), though some gains faded in subsequent trading sessions as profit-taking set in.
Larry Fink's Long-Standing Vision for Tokenization
The move aligns closely with CEO Larry Fink's public statements on blockchain infrastructure. In a December 2025 column for The Economist, Fink called tokenization “the next major evolution of market infrastructure.” At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, he advocated for an eventual unified blockchain-based financial system to reduce costs, accelerate settlements, and democratize access to investments.
BlackRock's 2026 investment outlook explicitly named **Ethereum** as the dominant chain for tokenization, estimating that roughly 65% of all tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) currently reside on the network.
Broader Industry Momentum
BlackRock is not alone in this institutional push:
- Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon continue expanding access to tokenized products for qualified clients.
- JPMorgan positions tokenized assets as a competitive alternative to public stablecoins.
- The New York Stock Exchange has announced plans for its own tokenized securities platform.
The tokenized RWA market has exploded, growing roughly 300% over the past 20 months. Analysts from BCG and Ripple project the sector could reach $19 trillion by 2033 if adoption accelerates.
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Implications and Outlook
BlackRock's integration of BUIDL with UniswapX represents a watershed moment: the largest traditional finance player is no longer merely observing or indirectly exposing clients to crypto — it's actively using DeFi rails for real institutional products.
While retail access remains distant (and likely years away due to regulatory hurdles), the infrastructure is now in place for future scaling. The partnership validates Uniswap's RFQ model for high-value, compliant trades and signals growing confidence in public blockchains for regulated, yield-bearing assets.
Whether this accelerates broader Wall Street migration to DeFi — or remains an institutional-only niche — will be one of the defining crypto narratives of 2026 and beyond.
