BNY Mellon launches blockchain platform for $8.6T transfer

The Bank of New York Mellon has launched a blockchain-based platform for its transfer agency business, moving the official ownership records for investment funds onto a shared digital ledger. The service, announced on July 29, 2026, will initially support tokenized funds from major asset managers including Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, and BNY's own Dreyfus money market fund business.

BNY's transfer agency unit manages approximately $8.6 trillion in assets across 7.6 million investor accounts. The new platform is designed to create a single, shared source of truth for fund ownership and transactions, which the bank says will reduce the need for costly and time-consuming reconciliation across the separate systems typically maintained by fund managers, custodians, and administrators. Carolyn Weinberg, BNY's chief product and innovation officer, described the move as modernizing the books and records that sit behind every fund transaction by bringing them onchain.

The launch represents a significant application of blockchain technology to a core, back-office financial function rather than solely to new digital assets. Transfer agents are responsible for maintaining official...