ARK Invest Bets Big on Tokenization With Strategic BlackRock-Backed Securitize Investment

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest is making a major move into the tokenization sector by acquiring a strategic stake in Securitize, a leading tokenization platform backed by BlackRock. The ARK Venture Fund has allocated 3.25% of its portfolio to Securitize, valued at approximately $10 million, positioning it as the fund's eighth-largest holding after AI giants X.AI and Anthropic. This investment highlights the growing institutional adoption of tokenization, which involves converting traditional financial assets like bonds, stocks, and funds into blockchain-based tokens. The tokenized asset market has surged 112% year-to-date, reaching $33 billion, with projections suggesting it could expand to $18.9 trillion by 2033 according to Ripple and BCG. Securitize, founded in 2017, has emerged as a key player in this space, having issued $4.6 billion in tokenized assets for major institutions including BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and Apollo. The company is notably the issuer behind BlackRock's BUIDL fund, the leading tokenized U.S. Treasury product with $2.8 billion in assets. Securitize has also pioneered equity tokenization, working with companies like Exodus and FG Nexus to bring traditional stocks onto the Ethereum blockchain. ARK's investment follows Securitize's $47 million funding round last year, which was led by BlackRock and Hamilton Lane, with participation from ParaFi Capital and Tradeweb Markets, signaling strong institutional confidence in the future of asset tokenization.