When the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager tells you the financial system’s plumbing needs an upgrade, you pay attention. Larry Fink, who oversees roughly $14 trillion at BlackRock, has declared that the era of asset tokenization has officially arrived, and he’s pushing for the US to modernize its regulatory infrastructure to keep pace.
This isn’t just talk. BlackRock filed with the SEC on May 8-9 for two new tokenized products designed to offer on-chain shares through public blockchains. The firm is putting real capital and real filings behind its conviction that nearly every asset class, from bonds to real estate to equities, will eventually live on a blockchain.
From rhetoric to reality
Fink first started beating the tokenization drum publicly during a CNBC interview on October 14, 2025. But his 2026 annual chairman’s letter, published in March, turned up the volume considerably. In it, he framed tokenization as a way to “update the plumbing of the financial system.”
The flagship proof of concept is BUIDL, BlackRock’s tokenized US Treasury fund that launched on Ethereum back in March 2024. As of May 2026, BUIDL has swelled to approximately $2.5 billion in assets under management.
