Investment Manager Hamilton Lane to Tokenize 3 Funds Through Securitize

Investment management firm Hamilton Lane (HLNE) will tokenize three of its funds in a partnership with digital-asset securities company Securitize.

Hamilton Lane plans to give qualified U.S.-based investors access to funds providing exposure to direct equities, private credit and secondary transactions, which will be tokenized via Securitize's digital transfer agency, according to an announcement Wednesday. The firm expects the tokenized funds will be available by the fourth quarter.

The aim of tokenization is to make private market investment available to a broader set of investors. Private-equity investments are generally accessible only to institutional or ultra-high-net worth investors, but blockchain technology makes them available to individual investors, too.

The announcement by Hamilton Lane, which has $832.5 billion in assets under management and supervision, follows a similar move from KKR, the investment giant that announced plans last month to tokenize its Health Care Strategic Growth Fund on the Avalanche blockchain, also in partnership with Securitize.

Also last month, SWIFT, the messaging system that supports international bank transactions, formed a partnership with blockchain network Chainlink to develop a cross-chain interoperability protocol to facilitate token transfers across all blockchain networks.

Read more: Why Goldman Sachs Is Exploring Tokenizing Real Assets