Baillie Gifford has launched the UK’s first fully native tokenized investment fund, marking a new step for traditional finance firms moving assets onto public blockchains.
The Edinburgh-based asset manager, which oversees around £286 billion, introduced the Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund, or BAGEY, in partnership with BNY. Unlike most tokenized products that add a blockchain layer to existing fund structures, BAGEY operates entirely on-chain.
The fund runs on Ethereum and Solana and uses the blockchain itself as the official record of ownership.
BAGEY is a dollar-denominated, short-duration fixed-income fund invested in actively managed corporate bonds. The portfolio currently offers a yield of around 7%, carries an average BBB credit rating, and has a duration of about two years.
The structure uses a UK-regulated Open-Ended Investment Company framework. Eligible professional investors in the UK, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands can buy and redeem shares daily.
The minimum investment is $100. Investors can fund positions with either traditional fiat currencies or stablecoins, initially USDC issued by Circle. NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services will act as the fund’s depositary, while BNY provides the tokenization and wallet infrastructure.
Theo Golden, head of digital assets and tokenization at the company, said the objective was to improve ownership structures, settlement speed, and transparency rather than add a digital layer to old infrastructure.
Under the model, investors hold the fund directly through blockchain-issued tokens, giving them direct ownership and legal rights tied to those holdings. Baillie Gifford selected Ethereum and Solana because both networks have become major platforms for digital assets.
Ethereum offers a deep ecosystem of tokenized financial products, while Solana provides high transaction speeds and lower costs. Operating across both chains also increases compatibility with future financial infrastructure.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Baillie Gifford said tokenization is part of a long-term strategy rather than a short-term trend. The firm has more than 25 years of experience managing bond portfolios and is best known for backing high-growth technology companies.
Over the years, it became an early investor in Amazon and remains invested in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Italian software company Bending Spoons.
BNY’s global head of investor solutions, Katey Neate, said the launch shows that tokenization has moved beyond experiments and into real-world use. The company believes the structure could serve as a blueprint for how traditional assets are issued and managed through blockchain infrastructure.
Related: Coinbase Plans 1:1 Backed Tokenized Stocks With Real On-chain Ownership
