BNY Mellon has rolled out a digital transfer agent platform that uses blockchain technology to handle fund transactions and keep shareholder records on-chain. This marks a shift from the bank's traditional transfer agency setup, which manages over $59 trillion in assets.
Instead of relying solely on legacy systems, BNY’s new platform records ownership on a shared ledger. The change aims to cut out intermediaries, speed up settlements, and enable trading around the clock. According to BNY, blockchain could overhaul the record-keeping infrastructure behind every investment fund transaction.
Early adopters and industry outlook
Baillie Gifford is set to be the first client using this platform for a fully native UK-regulated tokenized fund. Meanwhile, BNY’s Dreyfus division and BlackRock plan to use the same blockchain infrastructure for upcoming fund launches. Executives from both BNY and Baillie Gifford emphasized that blockchain offers a single source of truth, reducing the complex reconciliation work between financial institutions.
However, they also noted that traditional systems won’t disappear overnight. The coexistence of old and new technologies will continue for years, and there remain cybersecurity concerns related to smart contracts and blockchain bridges.
