Ireland is a leading EU domicile for fund products, notably in the money market funds (MMFs) space, private asset strategies, and exchange-traded funds, with tokenisation via distributed ledger technology offering faster settlement, enhanced transparency, and new functionality. MMFs may benefit from real-time cash management and automated compliance. In 2025, global tokenised real-world assets exceeded US$36 billion, driven by major asset managers launching tokenised products, primarily MMFs, and Boston Consulting Group estimates tokenised fund assets under management could reach 1% of global mutual funds and ETF AUM within seven years, implying more than US$600 billion by 2030.
Ireland has emerged as an active participant in this trend. BlackRock and Fidelity International piloted tokenisation of their Irish-domiciled MMFs for collateral on JP Morgan’s Kinexys platform, and platforms like Archax offer tokenised access to Irish-domiciled MMFs from firms such as BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity International, LGIM, and Federated Hermes for professional and institutional investors. Tokenisation activity spans Asia, the US, and Europe, with Franklin Templeton launching its first European tokenised MMF and broader partnerships bringing funds onto distributed ledger infrastructure; the broader tokenised real-world asset market grew an estimated 85% year over year, while tokenised fund AUM remains a small fraction of the US$7 trillion money fund sector.
Some of the most promising areas include using tokenised MMFs (TMMFs) as collateral for derivatives or securities lending, given their composition of high-quality liquid assets and their potential to reduce churn and sell pressure in market stress events such as the UK LDI crisis. Global Digital Finance has published The Case for Collateral Mobility in Europe & The UK using Money Market Funds, to which Irish Funds contributed, noting that TMMFs offer yield accrual that can make them a more attractive posted collateral than cash or stablecoins in a high-interest-rate environment. In the wider stablecoin space, Decrypt’s velocity analysis shows Tether leading at 166, RLUSD at 71, and USDC at 56 in 2025, with USD1 as an outlier; Circle’s USDC has benefited from GENIUS Act-driven regulatory clarity and related banking charters, underscoring momentum in regulated, tokenised financial services.
Leave a Reply