Baillie Gifford Launches Tokenized Bond Fund on Ethereum and Solana

Baillie Gifford, the 118-year-old UK asset manager, has launched a tokenized bond fund on Ethereum and Solana, with BNY providing the tokenization and wallet infrastructure.

CoinDesk reported on June 22 that Baillie Gifford launched the Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund, or BAGEY, with BNY.

The dollar-denominated fund gives eligible investors exposure to a portfolio of short-term public corporate bonds. It is actively managed and currently offers a yield of about 7%.

BAGEY is structured as a UK-regulated open-ended investment company, or OEIC. It is available to eligible investors in the UK, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, subject to local laws and sales restrictions.

Baillie Gifford said the product is not simply a token layered onto a conventional fund. Instead, the fund is issued on-chain, with the blockchain serving as the official book of record. Investors hold the fund directly and have a direct claim on it.

BNY is providing the tokenization and wallet infrastructure for the fund. NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services is serving as the fund's depositary.

Theo Golden, Baillie Gifford's head of digital assets and tokenization, said BAGEY is "not a token wrapped around a fund, but a fund issued on-chain."

The launch marks an example of real-world asset, or RWA, tokenization moving beyond the concept stage into a regulated fund structure. With a bond fund issued on a public blockchain, Ethereum and Solana are also emerging more clearly as infrastructure for institutional financial products.