BNY Launches Onchain Transfer Agency for Its $8.6 Trillion Fund Business
BNY Mellon is putting one of Wall Street’s most critical back-office functions on blockchain rails. The world’s largest custodian is launching a digital version of its transfer agency business, which will record fund transactions and investor ownership onchain. The platform will initially support Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, and BNY’s own Dreyfus money-market fund unit.
Transfer agents handle fund subscriptions, redemptions, and ownership records—processes that typically require multiple parties to maintain separate databases. BNY’s blockchain-based system is designed to create a shared, immutable ledger, reducing duplication, shortening settlement times, and enabling 24/7 market operations.
BNY’s transfer agency operation alone manages approximately $8.6 trillion across 7.6 million investor accounts. The bank also oversees over $59 trillion in assets under custody and administration. Carolyn Weinberg, BNY’s chief product and innovation officer, said the technology could transform how financial markets process transactions by bringing fund activity records onchain.
Baillie Gifford, the Edinburgh-based investment firm managing about $262 billion, is using the platform for what it calls the UK’s first fully native, regulated tokenized fund. BlackRock and Dreyfus are also expected to deploy the service for planned products.
The launch reflects Wall Street’s growing interest in tokenization. Asset managers see blockchain as a way to issue, transfer, and settle fund shares more efficiently without altering the underlying investment structure. BNY has already worked with Goldman Sachs on a system that records ownership of selected money-market funds via blockchain-based representations.
However, BNY does not expect to replace traditional financial rails overnight. The bank will operate its conventional and blockchain systems in parallel while institutions test security, compliance, and market demand. That measured approach aims to ensure that BNY remains at the center of fund administration as ownership records move onchain.