BlackRock outlines vision for tokenized funds as next phase of Wall Street modernization

In his latest annual letter, Larry Fink sets out how tokenized funds could reshape global markets while tackling deep structural weaknesses in modern finance.

Larry Fink links digital assets to a broader reset of capitalism

BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink used his annual letter to shareholders to argue that digital assets and tokenization can help overhaul a financial system that is no longer serving enough people. He warned that the current U.S. model has delivered the largest gains to households that already own assets, while many workers remain excluded from market growth and long-term wealth creation.

According to Fink, that divide feeds into a larger challenge for the United States, where rising inequality, mounting government debt and weak participation in capital markets are putting pressure on traditional finance. Moreover, he stressed that these strains are emerging just as the economy faces costly transitions in energy, manufacturing and technology, including artificial intelligence.

Capitalismis workingjust not for enough people,Fink wrote, framing his diagnosis as a call for structural change rather than a rejection of markets. That said, he insisted that the solution lies in upgrading financial infrastructure and expanding access, not abandoning the system altogether.

How tokenization could update market infrastructure

Finks proposed fix centers on tokenization and digital distribution as tools to give more people a stake in economic growth while making markets run more efficiently. He argued that tokenization can update the plumbing of the financial system by making investments easier to issue, trade and access globally across time zones.

The underlying idea is straightforward. If ownership of assets is recorded on digital ledgers rather than in fragmented legacy systems, transferring a fund share, bond or other security could become faster and cheaper. Moreover, those same rails could support near-instant settlement, continuous record-keeping and more transparent audit trails for investors and regulators.

In practical terms, Fink said, a regulated digital wallet could evolve beyond simple payments to hold tokenized bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and fractional interests in alternative assets such as infrastructure or private credit. That said, he emphasized that this shift must unfold inside a clearly supervised framework to protect investors and reduce operational risks for institutions.

Digital wallets as gateways to capital markets

To illustrate the potential scale, Fink highlighted the ubiquity of mobile finance. Half the worlds population carries a digital wallet on their phone, he wrote, underscoring how quickly payment technology has spread since the 2000s. However, he noted that most of these tools remain limited to transactions rather than long-term investing.

Imagine if that same digital wallet could also let you invest in a broad mix of companies for the long termas easily as sending a payment, Fink added. In his view, that shift could turn everyday payment apps into regulated digital wallets that offer diversified portfolios, tokenized bonds and access to strategies that were once reserved for institutions.

Such a model would also support fractional asset ownership, letting smaller savers access slivers of infrastructure projects, private credit vehicles or diversified equity baskets. Moreover, by trimming settlement frictions and minimum investment sizes, Fink believes tokenization could cut costs and broaden participation without sacrificing regulatory oversight.

Tokenization compared to the internet in 1996

Fink compared the current stage of tokenization to the internet in 1996, when early networks were already reshaping communication but had not yet transformed commerce and media. He argued that, similarly, tokenization will not replace traditional finance overnight. However, it could gradually connect legacy systems with new digital rails and transform how assets move across borders and platforms.

For policymakers, Fink said the priority should be building that bridge as quickly and safely as possible. That means establishing clear buyer protections, robust counterparty-risk standards and reliable digital identity checks to limit illicit finance. Moreover, he urged regulators to align emerging digital asset regulation with long-standing investor-protection rules rather than treating the sector as a parallel universe.

In this framework, tokenized funds would allow existing productssuch as money market funds, bond portfolios and equity ETFs to migrate onto more efficient infrastructure. That said, Fink stressed that the goal is to enhance transparency, access and resilience, not to create speculative instruments detached from the real economy.

BlackRocks growing digital-asset footprint

The letter also underlined BlackRock‘s rapid expansion in digital markets. Fink said the firm has built early leadership in the space, citing nearly $150 billion in assets connected to digital markets as of the date of the letter. Those exposures span tokenized funds, stablecoins, and exchange-traded structures linked to crypto and blockchain-related assets.

BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is now the largest tokenized fund in the world, reflecting growing institutional demand for token-based access to traditional instruments. Moreover, the firm manages $65 billion in stablecoin reserves and nearly $80 billion in digital asset exchange-traded products, positioning it as a leading bridge between conventional portfolios and blockchain-native markets.

Fink framed these initiatives as part of a long-term strategy rather than a short-lived bet on hype cycles. That said, he reiterated that broader adoption will depend on interoperability standards, clear legal frameworks and investor education, especially for institutions that must manage complex risk and compliance mandates.

Funding Americas next economic transitions

Despite his optimism about technology, Fink devoted much of the letter to deeper stresses in the U.S. financial system. He warned that banks, corporations and governments can no longer shoulder the entire burden of funding major economic shifts, including rebuilding manufacturing capacity, expanding energy supply and competing in artificial intelligence. Moreover, he argued that current fiscal trajectories make it harder for the state to absorb additional risks.

As a result, he said, more capital must come from long-term investors such as pension funds, insurers and individual savers, all of whom need efficient channels into productive assets. Here, Fink sees tokenized funds as one way to channel global savings into infrastructure, clean energy and innovation, especially if they can be held in widely used digital wallets.

He also pointed to Social Security as a critical safety net that may require structural reform to remain sustainable. That said, he suggested that some exposure to long-term market returns could help bolster the system over time, provided reforms are designed transparently and with strong protections for lower-income beneficiaries.

Tokenization as infrastructure, not hype

For Fink, tokenization sits within a larger effort to upgrade the mechanics of finance rather than a narrow wager on cryptocurrencies. He described it as an infrastructure change that could support safer access, better pricing and more resilient markets. Moreover, he argued that digitizing ownership records can reduce settlement risk and increase transparency without dismantling existing regulatory safeguards.

In one passage, he framed tokenized funds as a way to help more people become investors instead of bystanders in a system that has concentrated gains among asset owners. That said, he acknowledged that technology alone cannot fix inequality; policies around education, retirement, taxation and labor will continue to play central roles.

Finks broader message was that finance needs an upgrade to handle twenty-first-century challenges, from demographic shifts to decarbonization and rapid advances in AI. Digital assets and tokenization, he concluded, are likely to become part of that overhaul, offering new rails for capital formation while keeping core protections in place.

Overall, the letter presents a vision in which modern market infrastructure, tokenized asset funds and expanded digital wallet investing work together to make capitalism more inclusive, even as traditional institutions and safeguards remain essential.