The issuance marks the first real-world asset token issued on the Base network, which also hosts the popular social tokenization platform Friend.Tech.

Issued under the Swiss tokenized securities law, Backed’s bIB01 crypto token is a blockchain-based version of BlackRock’s short-term U.S. Treasuries exchange-traded fund (ETF) that offers a 5.25% annual yield to investors. The offering is available to qualified investors and licensed distributors who passed the firm’s know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks. U.S. investors and entities are restricted from buying the token.

Tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) – an umbrella term for wrapping traditional financial instruments such as government bonds, private equity or credit in a token form and placing them on blockchains – has become one of the hottest trends in crypto this year. The market for tokenized assets could mushroom to $16 trillion by 2030, according to a Boston Consulting Group report.

U.S. Treasuries are considered a gateway for tokenization efforts, as many digital asset investors, fund managers, crypto firms and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) seek these products for their high yield and low-risk status. The tokenized treasuries market has grown sixfold this year to $666 million, with asset management firm Franklin Templeton being the biggest player, according to rwa.xyz data.

Backed explained the expansion that Base offers a “low-cost, developer-friendly way to build on-chain,” adding that while its code is interoperable with Ethereum, transaction fees are “ten times cheaper.”