Asset manager F/m Investments has applied to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to tokenise shares of its flagship Treasury exchange-traded fund.
The $18bn firm is seeking exemptive relief to record ownership of its $6bn F/m US Treasury 3 Month Bill ETF on a permissioned blockchain.
F/m said the ETF would remain a standard 1940 Act fund despite adopting blockchain-based ownership records.
The company described the filing as the first request by an ETF issuer for US regulatory approval to issue tokenised shares of a registered fund.
Tokenised shares would retain the same identifier, rights, fees, voting power and economic terms as existing ETF shares.
F/m said tokenisation would serve only as an alternative record-keeping method rather than creating a new digital asset.
The proposal follows similar tokenisation initiatives by other major asset managers experimenting with blockchain-based fund structures.
Unlike money market fund pilots, F/m’s plan would apply tokenisation to a listed Treasury ETF.
The firm said its model differs from stablecoins and unregistered digital tokens by maintaining full regulatory oversight and investor protections.