Solana bond fund debuts as Schroders goes onchain

Solana bond fund debuts as $1.1 trillion Schroders goes onchain

Schroders, which manages $1.1 trillion, put a tokenized emerging markets bond fund on Solana on Wednesday, Nov. 4, its first fund on the network.

The quick take

Price: $SOL $95.60, +2.3% ↑ in 24 hours, as of 12:41 p.m. ET, Nov. 4 (Binance SOL/USDT).
Trigger: Schroders and tokenization firm Centrifuge launched a tokenized emerging markets bond fund on Solana.
Watch: The fund’s size and access terms, which neither report disclosed.

What happened

Solana ($SOL) now hosts its first Schroders product: a Solana bond fund that went live on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The London-based manager, with $1.1 trillion in assets as of June, is tokenizing its Schroder International Selection Fund Emerging Market Bond strategy with Centrifuge, CoinDesk reported.

The strategy buys sovereign, corporate and local-currency debt from emerging economies, The Block reported. CoinDesk said Schroders has handled this kind of debt for more than 50 years, with over 40 specialists.

How the fund works

Legally, the onchain version is a feeder fund that carries a tokenized share class, according to CoinDesk. It invests in Schroders’ Emerging Market Bond Fund. Buyers own tokens of the feeder, not shares of the main fund, and token values follow the fund’s net asset value.

Neither report gave the fund’s size, its minimum investment or who may buy it. Those details are unknown for now.

Why it matters

Most tokenized funds so far hold cash or short-term government debt. Tokenized Treasuries and money market funds make up $14 billion of a $39 billion tokenized real-world asset market, CoinDesk said, citing RWA.xyz.

“Until now, onchain fixed income has largely been built around cash and short-duration government securities,” Anil Sood, chief strategy and growth officer at Centrifuge, told CoinDesk. Centrifuge holds more than $750 million in tokenized assets, per CoinDesk.

The Block noted that Centrifuge already works with New York Life’s asset manager on a tokenized high-yield bond fund. Schroders’ launch adds an actively run emerging markets strategy to that list.

What to watch next

Solana DeFi held $5.6 billion in total value locked at 17:41 UTC, per DefiLlama. Watch whether Schroders publishes the fund’s size and who can buy it, and whether its tokens reach Solana lending or liquidity apps.

Bottom line: Schroders moves tokenized funds on Solana past cash-like products and into actively managed emerging markets debt.