The bridge between Wall Street and the Blockchain just got a blueprint.
F/m Investments has filed with the SEC to record ownership of its U.S. Treasury 3-month Bill ETF (TBIL) on a permissioned blockchain. This marks a significant move to bring tokenization inside the regulated perimeter of traditional finance.
🛠️ THE INNOVATION (The “Single CUSIP” Model): Unlike previous attempts to create “wrapped” tokens or separate digital assets, F/m is seeking to apply this structure to a registered ETF.
- One Security: Tokenized shares will carry the same CUSIP (unique identifier), voting rights, and fees as the traditional shares.
- Hybrid Rails: If approved, TBIL would operate across both traditional brokerage systems and digital-native platforms using a single share class.
- The Goal: Enable 24/7 trading and instant settlement without changing the ETF’s underlying mechanics.
⚖️ THE REGULATORY PLAY: CEO Alexander Morris frames this as an inevitability that needs regulation, not avoidance.
- The Quote: “Tokenization is coming… The question is whether it happens inside the regulatory framework investors have relied on for 85 years, or without that set of protections.”
- The Distinction: F/m explicitly distances this from stablecoins. By keeping the tokenized shares within the Investment Company Act of 1940, they aim to guarantee backing by traditional assets in a way unregistered tokens cannot.
💡 ANALYST TAKEAWAY: This is how “Real World Assets” (RWA) actually scale. The hurdle for institutional adoption has always been liquidity fragmentation—having a “crypto version” and a “stock version” of the same asset. By using a single CUSIP, F/m is proposing a unified liquidity pool that simply uses blockchain as a superior settlement layer. If the SEC grants approval, it sets the precedent for every other ETF issuer to follow suit.
👇 FinTech Leaders: Will the SEC approve a “Same CUSIP” tokenized ETF, or will they force a distinct digital share class?