BNY Says FOMO, Not Finish Lines, Is Fueling the Tokenized ETF Race 🏁

Fund issuers are accelerating plans to tokenize exchange-traded funds even as regulators, trading infrastructure and market-structure questions remain unresolved, according to Ben Slavin, global head of ETFs at BNY. Speaking in an interview, Slavin said asset managers are moving ahead with multiple projects to put traditional fund products on blockchain rails, driven largely by client demand and concerns about missing an early foothold in tokenized finance. "We have a number of different projects in flight, different variants to effectively tokenize ETFs," he said.

Slavin described a pronounced fear-of-missing-out dynamic among issuers weighing whether to launch blockchain-based fund products. "What is interesting about it is I think a lot of clients feel like there is an opportunity there to raise assets," he said. "A lot of them really have a 'FOMO' effect, where they want to get in early." The interest extends beyond money market funds, the category that has dominated tokenized product launches to date, and now includes efforts by major firms such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton to bring traditional investment products on chain.

Industry executives say tokenized funds could eventually enable around-the-clock transfer of fund shares, shorter settlement times and broader access for global investors, positioning blockchain networks as a new distribution channel for Wall Street products. Slavin said firms are unwilling to wait for the underlying market plumbing to be completed. "Even though the regulations and the rails aren't fully ready yet, they want to get products out," he said.

One emerging concern for issuers is that tokenized representations of established ETFs are already circulating on platforms outside the traditional financial system, often without any involvement from the funds' sponsors. "There are ETFs, like hundreds of them, that are trading in unregulated markets around the world," Slavin said, adding that anyone can theoretically create a tokenized version of a publicly traded fund. The BNY executive's remarks were reported on June 23, 2026, and come as asset managers continue to debate how tokenized products should interact with existing fund infrastructure and which regulatory frameworks will ultimately apply to the space.