BlackRock is expanding its presence within the stablecoin sector with a redesigned money market fund designed to serve stablecoin issuers.
The $13.5 trillion asset manager said the revamped fund, called BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund (BSTBL), will help manage reserves for corporations which have exposure to U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and provides them a secure place to park customer funds, in line with CNBC.
“We need to be — and imagine we’re — a preeminent reserve manager” for stablecoin issuers, Jon Steel, global product and platform lead for BlackRock’s money management business, told CNBC.
BlackRock noted that the offering is in step with the GENIUS Act, a law signed by President Donald Trump earlier this yr that created the primary U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins.
BlackRock restructures stablecoin reserve fund
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock has renamed and restructured its money market fund called BlackRock Liquid Federal Trust Fund, which previously invested 100% of its total assets in money, U.S. Treasury bills and debt securities.
The changes approved by the corporate's board took effect Tuesday. According to BlackRock, the fund will now invest fully in short-term U.S. Treasury securities and overnight repos, making it a highly secure, highly liquid vehicle for institutional investors, including stablecoin issuers.
The adjustments also include longer trading hours (until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) and later valuation times.
In a summary prospectus, BlackRock shared a breakdown of the fund's fees and operating expenses, including a management fee of 0.21%, a shareholder processing fee of 0.10% and total expenses of 0.27% after waivers. It also shows a fee waiver agreement that runs through June 30, 2026.
The summary prospectus of the brand new fund. Source: BlackRock
BlackRock desires to attract more stablecoin issuers
BlackRock already manages reserves for Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC (USDC), as a part of a long-standing partnership that has grown rapidly as stablecoin adoption increases. The latest BSTBL fund goals to make this model available to more issuers as demand for regulated, yield-producing reserve options grows.
Citi analysts recently predicted that stablecoin issuance could rise from $280 billion today to $4 trillion by 2030, underscoring the market's explosive potential.
