BNP Paribas Asset Management has unveiled a landmark pilot project to issue tokenized shares of a French-domiciled money market fund directly on the Ethereum network. The initiative, confirmed by Edouard Legrand, the firm's Chief Digital and Data Officer, utilizes its proprietary AssetFoundry platform to manage fund tokenization on Ethereum, operating under a permissioned access model to comply with current regulatory frameworks.
The project represents a significant breakthrough in institutional adoption of decentralized finance, enabling the bank to issue and transfer fund shares in real-time within a public infrastructure. By moving away from traditional batch-based processing systems, BNP Paribas aims to validate how blockchain technology can minimize operational risks and increase transparency in managing large-scale institutional assets.
The bank implemented the ERC-3643 token standard, designed specifically for regulated financial assets, to ensure compliance on the public blockchain. Although the tokens are issued on Ethereum, the model operates under a permissioned framework where only verified and eligible participants can hold or transfer the tokenized shares. The pilot tested a full end-to-end workflow involving BNP Paribas' Asset Management, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Securities Services divisions.
This follows earlier blockchain experiments by the group, including a tokenized money market fund on a private Luxembourg blockchain in 2025 and a renewable energy project finance bond issued directly on Ethereum in 2022.
In parallel, BNP Paribas is helping lead Qivalis, a euro-backed stablecoin initiative structured as a consortium of 12 major European banks. Members include ING, UniCredit, BBVA, CaixaBank, DZ BANK, and DekaBank. The stablecoin, pegged 1:1 to the euro, is backed by segregated reserves including central bank deposits and short-term government paper and is designed to comply fully with the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Qivalis is currently seeking an Electronic Money Institution license from the Dutch Central Bank, with a commercial launch targeted for the second half of 2026. The stablecoin is positioned as an institutional payment rail rather than a speculative crypto asset, with primary use cases including programmable payments through smart contracts, atomic Delivery versus Payment settlement for tokenized securities, and real-time liquidity management for multinational corporations.
The project is expected to launch across multiple networks, beginning with Ethereum and expanding to Polygon and Base. Leadership of the venture includes CEO Jan-Oliver Sell, formerly of Coinbase Germany, and Chairman Sir Howard Davies, previously Chair of NatWest.
The next step for the financial ecosystem will be to monitor the integration of these models with global communication networks such as Swift, where BNP Paribas is already conducting experiments. Investors should keep a close eye on the results of this intra-group trial, as it will lay the groundwork for future commercial issuances and the potential launch of a joint stablecoin among major global banking institutions.
