BlackRock, Securitize tap DeFi giant Uniswap for direct onchain BUIDL trading; UNI surges 20%

BlackRock is deepening its presence in decentralized finance, enabling onchain trading of its tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, through a collaboration with Uniswap Labs and Securitize.

The integration will make shares of BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, known as BUIDL, available to eligible investors via UniswapX technology, according to Wednesday's statement.

UniswapX is an offchain order routing system developed by Uniswap Labs that aggregates liquidity and settles trades onchain. The broader Uniswap ecosystem is one of the largest decentralized exchanges by cumulative volume and relies on automated market maker smart contracts rather than centralized intermediaries.

Trading will be facilitated through Securitize Markets using a request-for-quote framework that connects whitelisted institutional participants and settles transactions onchain through smart contracts.

BlackRock also disclosed that it has made an investment within the Uniswap ecosystem, purchasing an undisclosed amount of UNI. The UNI token rose roughly 20% shortly after the announcement, The Block’s price page shows.

New BUILD milestone

The arrangement marks BlackRock’s first direct use of DeFi trading infrastructure for one of its tokenized products, though the product has been available for onchain transfers and certain forms of liquidity/usage since its launch.

BUIDL, issued through Securitize, is a tokenized fund backed by U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents. It’s currently the largest institutional-grade tokenized funds on public blockchains, with approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management as of Feb. 11, according to The Block’s data. BlackRock recently expanded the product’s reach by launching on Binance’s BNB Chain and Solana, and by integrating with DeFi protocols such as Euler via wrapped versions of the fund.

While access remains limited to qualified and whitelisted investors, today’s move signals growing overlap between regulated asset managers and decentralized liquidity venues.

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Securitize, which operates regulated broker-dealer and alternative trading system entities in the U.S., acts as the tokenization and compliance layer for BUIDL. The firm said investors who elect to trade through UniswapX will be pre-qualified and whitelisted, preserving regulatory controls while accessing DeFi liquidity infrastructure.

"This is the unlock we've been working toward: bringing the trust and regulatory standards of traditional finance to the speed and openness for which DeFi is known," Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said in a statement.