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.
If approved, the ETF could operate across traditional brokerage systems and digital-native platforms through a single share class.
The application comes as major exchanges explore round-the-clock trading and onchain settlement for tokenised securities.