Cryptocurrency

UK bond fund ownership records move onto Ethereum and Solana accessible 24/7 – Crypto News

Published

4 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Dripp

A UK investment manager with over £286 billion ($377B) in assets under management is testing a sharper version of fund tokenization with BAGEY: public blockchains are being used as part of the record that says who owns a regulated UK fund.

That finally moves the tokenization debate into fund administration rather than distribution alone. A tokenized fund can still be a blockchain-shaped claim on a conventional product whose decisive ownership record sits elsewhere.

Baillie Gifford is presenting a stronger model, one where the on-chain record forms part of the legal ownership register itself.

In that version, the token becomes the means by which an investor’s holdings are recorded. The consequence is tangible: if regulated fund ownership can live natively on public chains, the change is in the fund administration stack, not in crypto market exposure.

Baillie Gifford’s digital assets material frames tokenization as an upgrade to ownership records, settlement, access, and client outcomes. The appeal is that records and processes can move differently when ownership is represented on shared rails.

The launch answers one narrow, tokenized-fund question with a qualified yes: regulated funds are moving toward legal infrastructure on public chains, rather than blockchain-wrapped versions of existing products.

The model still has to prove it can support secondary transfers, around-the-clock settlement, or collateral use outside a controlled primary-market setting.

Native issuance shifts the ownership record through tokenization

The central claim around BAGEY is native issuance. Baillie Gifford described it as a fully native UK-regulated tokenized fund operating through a UK-regulated OEIC structure, with issuance on Ethereum and Solana, BNY providing tokenization and wallet infrastructure, and NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services acting as depositary.

If the blockchain is the legal register, then the fund administrator, custodian, transfer agent, depositary, and investor are coordinating around more than a private database that later reconciles with a token.

The shared ledger becomes part of the record that says who owns what.

That is materially different from a tokenized wrapper. A wrapper can give investors blockchain-based access to fund exposure while keeping the legally decisive register within traditional infrastructure.

It can still be useful, but the operational center of gravity stays off-chain. BAGEY’s more important claim is that the record layer itself has moved.

Model	Where ownership lives	What the token does	Main question
Native tokenized fund	The on-chain record is presented as part of the fund ownership register	Records the investor’s direct holding in the regulated fund	Can legal, custody, transfer, and recovery controls hold up in production?
Tokenized wrapper	A separate fund or administrator record remains the decisive source	Represents access to an off-chain product	Does the wrapper add real utility beyond distribution?
Crypto exposure product	Traditional product records remain central	Gives exposure to a token, chain, or related strategy	How does the asset price perform?

That distinction keeps LINK, ETH, and SOL price action secondary. Chainlink amplified the launch, and Ethereum and Solana provide the public-chain infrastructure, but the news centers on whether fund ownership can be recorded natively on shared public ledgers inside a regulated structure.

The UK backdrop turns tokenization into fund plumbing

The UK backdrop is central. The Financial Conduct Authority published PS26/7 on fund tokenization on April 30, setting out how authorized fund managers can use distributed ledger technology within the existing authorized fund framework.

The policy statement covers tokenized fund models and DLT-based unitholder registers, providing BAGEY with a regulatory framework beyond an isolated product launch.

CryptoSlate previously covered the UK’s move to approve tokenizing FCA-authorized investment funds. That earlier shift matters because BAGEY now backs the policy direction with a specific asset manager, fund structure, service-provider stack, and public-chain implementation.

UK approves tokenization of FCA-authorized investment funds

The UK intends to adopt tokenization in phases, with the initial stage allowing FCA authorized funds to implement the technology to improve efficiency, transparency, and competitiveness.

Nov 24, 2023 · Assad Jafri

It also follows tokenized-fund experiments in which Chainlink, Swift, UBS, and others tested subscriptions and redemptions, as well as transfer-agent automation. Those pilots demonstrated that traditional fund workflows could be integrated with blockchain systems.

Chainlink, Swift and UBS succesfully pilot tokenized fund solution to revolutionize $100 trillion industry

The Chainlink and UBS pilot unlocks efficiency in tokenized fund flows using Swift’s existing infrastructure.

Sep 30, 2025 · Assad Jafri

BAGEY pushes the question further. The relevant issue is whether the record of regulated fund ownership can reside natively on public-chain infrastructure, rather than whether a single workflow can be automated.

For asset managers, that shifts the burden of proof. A tokenized fund wrapper can be evaluated based on access, distribution, and investor demand.

A native fund record must be assessed for legal finality, operational resilience, controls over eligible holders, failed or mistaken transfers, wallet loss, sanctions screening, redemption timing, and the point at which a blockchain entry becomes enforceable against the fund.