BlockBeats report: On June 22, Baillie Gifford, a longstanding asset management firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over 118 years of history, jointly announced with global custody leader BNY the launch of a tokenized fixed-income fund, the Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund (BAGEY), deployed simultaneously on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.
This fund, denominated in U.S. dollars, operates through an Open-Ended Investment Company (OEIC) structure under the UK regulatory framework, offering actively managed short-duration corporate bond portfolios to qualified investors in the UK, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands, with a current yield of approximately 7%.
Unlike most tokenized products on the market, Theo Golden, Head of Digital Assets at Baillie Gifford, emphasizes that BAGEY is not a traditional fund wrapped in a tokenized shell, but rather a fund issued directly on-chain, with the blockchain itself serving as the register of ownership, allowing investors to hold shares directly and enjoy direct recourse.
BNY will provide the fund with tokenization and wallet infrastructure, while NatWest’s trustee and custodian services company will serve as the fund’s custodian. The Global Head of BNY’s Investor Solutions stated that this issuance marks the transition of tokenization from concept to real-world application, as regulated fund structures evolve toward a more digital and interconnected market.