Established Asset Manager Baillie Gifford Teams Up with BNY to Launch On-Chain Fixed Income Tokenized Fund, Deploying Ethereum and Solana Dual Chain

On Monday, June 22, Edinburgh, Scotland-based Baillie Gifford — an 118-year-old, old-school asset management firm — announced a partnership with global custody giant BNY to launch the Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund (BAGEY), a tokenized fixed-income fund deployed simultaneously on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Denominated in U.S. dollars and structured as an open-ended investment company (OEIC) under UK regulatory frameworks, the fund targets eligible investors in the UK, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands. It is an actively managed short-duration corporate bond portfolio offering an approximate 7% current yield. Unlike most tokenized products in the market, Theo Golden, Baillie Gifford’s Head of Digital Assets, emphasized that BAGEY is not a traditional fund wrapped in a token shell. Instead, it is a fund issued directly on-chain, where the blockchain itself acts as the official register of ownership. Investors hold shares directly and have direct recourse to their investments. BNY will provide tokenization and wallet infrastructure for the fund, while NatWest Trustee and Custodial Services serves as the fund’s custodian. A Global Head of BNY Investor Solutions noted that this issuance marks tokenization’s transition from a theoretical concept to real-world application, as regulated fund structures evolve toward a more digital, interconnected market landscape.