A BlackRock money market fund was tokenized on the Hedera blockchain, causing the Hedera token to surge 94% in value within the last 24 hours. However, contrary to popular belief, the largest asset manager in the world was not involved in the on-chain movement.
The video accompanying the announcement appeared to suggest that Ownera, Archax, and BlackRock were collaborating on the endeavor, and HBAR claimed to be “bringing the world’s largest asset manager on-chain.”
Several crypto influencers with substantial X followings misinterpreted a post — which garnered over 1.6 million views and 2,700 reposts in just 15 hours — leading them to mistakenly believe that BlackRock was involved in moving its $22.3 billion fund to the blockchain or had formed a partnership with Archax and Ownera. Archax, a London-based digital asset exchange, broker, and custodian collaborated with the HBAR Foundation and Ownera, an institutional-grade digital asset platform, to bring the MMF to Hedera.
Its flagship tokenized funds marked a watershed moment in the asset management sector. There was criticism for the HBAR Foundation for framing the announcement in a misleading way, likening it to an individual buying a luxury item and claiming a partnership with the brand.
Crypto.news reached out to Chris O’Connor regarding the matter but did not hear back at the time of writing. At the time of writing, the Hedera token was trading at $0.1415, still up 60% in the last 24 hours.
HBAR also had a trading volume of $2.76 billion in the same period. The funds are part of the HBAR Foundation’s plans to grow its user base in 2024, following the network’s performance in 2023, when 33 billion transactions were performed, according to the foundation.
