Key Takeaways
- • BlackRock, through its partnership with Ondo Finance, is offering three professionally constructed portfolios (high income, diversified growth, high growth) packaged as single blockchain tokens under the Intelligent Portfolios program.
- • Pantera describes the shift "from single securities to onchain portfolios," and cites Broadridge data showing model portfolios held about $9.8 trillion in assets in June.
- • Bitwise's Automated Token Portfolios, launched in August with Coinbase and Glider for eligible non-U.S. investors, extend the same concept by keeping tokenized stocks in investor wallets while software maintains target weights.
- • ARK Invest's Tom Staudt argues tokenization could expand the set of assets available to portfolios, including private equity, private credit, crypto, and international markets, particularly when combined with AI-driven portfolio construction.
- • Ondo's John Hoffman envisions autonomous, real-time managed portfolios, but says the industry first needs a broader set of tokenized assets, prime-brokerage infrastructure, and natively executable strategies.
Summary
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has offered a preview of portfolio-level tokenization through a partnership with Ondo Finance called Intelligent Portfolios. The program packages three portfolios developed by BlackRock (focused on high income, diversified growth, and high growth) into individual tokens on a blockchain. Rather than buying and rebalancing the underlying holdings separately, an investor holds a single token representing the full portfolio. According to CoinDesk, the structure could allow these portfolios to move between wallets and platforms, be visible onchain, and potentially serve as collateral or be integrated into other financial products.
The move reflects a shift from tokenizing individual assets such as Treasury funds, private credit, stocks, and ETFs toward tokenizing the strategies that combine them. Crypto investment firm Pantera, in a recent report, characterized this as moving "from single securities to onchain portfolios," noting that the practical change for investors is fewer positions and fewer rebalancing decisions. Broadridge data cited in the article put model portfolios, pre-built combinations of funds used by wealth managers, at about $9.8 trillion in assets as of June. BlackRock's global head of model portfolio solutions, Lisa O'Connor, said "Tokenization creates new ways for portfolio strategies to be delivered through digital infrastructure."
Bitwise has pursued a related approach. In August, it introduced Automated Token Portfolios with Coinbase (COIN) and Glider, a technology firm backed by a16z, allowing eligible non-U.S. investors to hold Bitwise-designed portfolios of tokenized stocks in their own wallets, with Glider's software automatically adjusting holdings to target weights. While Ondo wraps exposure into a single transferable token and Bitwise leaves assets in investor wallets, both approaches move portfolio management into software operating directly on blockchain assets.
ARK Invest president and COO Tom Staudt told CoinDesk that tokenization could change not only how investors buy funds but what can enter a portfolio. He noted that traditional portfolio models were built when access to private equity, private credit, crypto, and international markets was limited. Combined with AI-driven construction tailored to individual goals, risk tolerance, and tax situations, tokenization could broaden the investable menu, as he put it, "taking democratization to the next level." Ondo's John Hoffman, who was newly appointed head of portfolio products at the time of a June interview, described a future of professionally managed, real-time portfolios adjusting to market data. He said reaching that point requires a broader universe of tokenized assets, prime-brokerage infrastructure, and asset-management strategies executable natively on blockchain networks. Stripe-backed blockchain Tempo's chief business officer, Dan Romero, said that combining tokenized assets with stablecoins could enable new financial products.
The move reflects a shift from tokenizing individual assets such as Treasury funds, private credit, stocks, and ETFs toward tokenizing the strategies that combine them. Crypto investment firm Pantera, in a recent report, characterized this as moving "from single securities to onchain portfolios," noting that the practical change for investors is fewer positions and fewer rebalancing decisions. Broadridge data cited in the article put model portfolios, pre-built combinations of funds used by wealth managers, at about $9.8 trillion in assets as of June. BlackRock's global head of model portfolio solutions, Lisa O'Connor, said "Tokenization creates new ways for portfolio strategies to be delivered through digital infrastructure."
Bitwise has pursued a related approach. In August, it introduced Automated Token Portfolios with Coinbase (COIN) and Glider, a technology firm backed by a16z, allowing eligible non-U.S. investors to hold Bitwise-designed portfolios of tokenized stocks in their own wallets, with Glider's software automatically adjusting holdings to target weights. While Ondo wraps exposure into a single transferable token and Bitwise leaves assets in investor wallets, both approaches move portfolio management into software operating directly on blockchain assets.
ARK Invest president and COO Tom Staudt told CoinDesk that tokenization could change not only how investors buy funds but what can enter a portfolio. He noted that traditional portfolio models were built when access to private equity, private credit, crypto, and international markets was limited. Combined with AI-driven construction tailored to individual goals, risk tolerance, and tax situations, tokenization could broaden the investable menu, as he put it, "taking democratization to the next level." Ondo's John Hoffman, who was newly appointed head of portfolio products at the time of a June interview, described a future of professionally managed, real-time portfolios adjusting to market data. He said reaching that point requires a broader universe of tokenized assets, prime-brokerage infrastructure, and asset-management strategies executable natively on blockchain networks. Stripe-backed blockchain Tempo's chief business officer, Dan Romero, said that combining tokenized assets with stablecoins could enable new financial products.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.