TechFlow news, September 14 — According to Wall Street Insights, Bloomberg previously reported that BlackRock is exploring tokenizing ETFs linked to real-world assets such as stocks. However, analysts believe this transition faces significant technological and regulatory challenges. Currently, ETFs are settled through the Wall Street Clearing House, while blockchain transactions are instant and operate around the clock, creating complex coordination issues for regulators and custodians. Nevertheless, the regulatory environment from the Trump era is becoming more lenient, with policymakers expressing openness to allowing companies to test blockchain-based market projects within controlled environments.
Nonetheless, migrating to blockchain could enable features such as instant settlement and fractional shares. The flexible design of ETFs makes them an ideal testing ground for this transformation. ETF tokenization would bring three core changes: first, extended trading hours, breaking free from traditional Wall Street trading hours to enable 24-hour trading; second, global accessibility, making U.S. financial products easier to access for overseas investors; third, new collateral use cases, enabling tokenized ETFs to serve as collateral within crypto networks and create novel application scenarios.
