New York Life partners with Centrifuge to launch the first tokenized high-yield bond fund

New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM), the asset management division of life insurance giant New York Life, which oversees $807 billion in assets, announced a partnership with tokenization platform Centrifuge to launch its first blockchain-based investment product: the NYLIM Anemoy U.S. High-Yield Corporate Bond Separate Portfolio (HYB), bringing its U.S. high-yield corporate bond strategy on-chain. Eligible investors can use Circle-issued USDC stablecoin to subscribe for and redeem shares, while the underlying portfolio remains managed by New York Life. This collaboration expands Centrifuge’s roster of partner asset managers; the platform has previously provided tokenization services to institutions including Apollo and Janus Henderson, with its related assets increasingly integrated into DeFi protocols such as Aave and Morpho. Centrifuge is also Coinbase’s preferred tokenization partner and has received strategic investment from the crypto exchange. According to data from rwa.xyz, the current market size of tokenized real-world assets (excluding stablecoins) has surpassed $300 billion. Citi forecasts the tokenized asset market could reach $5.5 trillion by the 2030s, while Standard Chartered projects it will expand to $2 trillion by 2028. Institutional focus in this space is shifting from early-stage tokenized U.S. Treasury bond funds to a broader range of asset classes including private credit, equities, and corporate bonds.