BlackRock’s blockchain-based fund, BUIDL, is now being accepted as collateral on two of the biggest crypto exchanges: Crypto.com and Deribit. This means that professional and institutional traders on these platforms can now use a blockchain-based version of U.S. Treasurys that earns interest to support their trades.
BUIDL is a digital money market fund launched by BlackRock and Securitize in March 2024. It’s backed by U.S. Treasury bonds and offers about 4.5% annual interest. The fund has grown quickly and now holds $2.9 billion in assets, with big investors like Ondo Finance and Ethena Labs.
In the press release , Michael Sonnenshein, COO at Securitize, says, “This is a major turning point.” He emphasized that tokenized securities like BUIDL are becoming viable alternatives to stablecoins and are now viewed as “programmable productive capital”—not just a place to park funds, but assets that work and earn yield.
By taking BUIDL as collateral, Crypto.com and Deribit are giving traders a chance to utilize a more secure and more productive source of capital. Crypto.com, with more than 140 million users, will accept BUIDL as collateral for its institutional customers across its entire suite of trading products.
On the other side, Deribit is the largest crypto options exchange with more than $1.1 trillion in 2024 trading volume. It will utilize BUIDL for options, futures, and spot trading. Traditionally, the majority of Deribit’s collateral has been in Bitcoin, so this is a big change.
Additionally speeding up adoption, Coinbase is acquiring Deribit for $2.9 billion . This may bring BUIDL onto Coinbase’s broader platform, moving tokenized U.S. Treasurys further into the crypto economy.
