BlackRock’s Nikhil Sharma pitches tokenized money market funds as instant collateral at TOKEN2049

Collateral has always moved at the speed of paperwork. BlackRock thinks it can move at the speed of a blockchain. Nikhil Sharma, BlackRock’s Director of Digital Assets, says tokenized money market funds could be posted as collateral directly. That means no redemption step and no waiting days for cash to settle. Sharma is on the speaker lineup for TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026, set for October 7-8 at Marina Bay Sands. His focus is tokenized money market funds (tMMFs) and stablecoins. What Sharma is actually proposing Under the traditional model, an institution holding money market fund shares typically redeems them for cash before using that cash as collateral. The redemption and settlement cycle can take days. During that window, capital sits idle. The tokenized version skips the detour. Fund shares exist as tokens, so the position itself can be transferred on-chain to a counterparty. The holder keeps earning the fund’s yield, and the counterparty receives an asset it can hold or move. BlackRock’s broader aim is to let tMMF positions move directly on-chain without the usual cash settlement wait. BlackRock’s tokenization buildout Sharma took the digital assets director role in December 2...