Schroders Takes Emerging-Market Bonds Onchain, Giving Solana a Debt With a Difference

London-based global asset manager Schroders is bringing its emerging markets bond strategy to the Solana (SOL) blockchain, marking its first deployment on the network and expanding tokenized investments beyond cash-like products. Founded more than 200 years ago, Schroders oversaw $1.1 trillion (£867.8 billion) in assets under management as of June, the firm said Wednesday. The London-based asset manager is working with Centrifuge to tokenize its Schroder International Selection Fund Emerging Market Bonds strategy, which invests in debt issued by governments and companies across emerging economies.

The strategy provides investors with exposure to markets and currencies beyond the U.S. and Europe. Schroders has managed emerging markets debt for more than 50 years and has over 40 investment professionals dedicated to the asset class. SISF is legally a feeder fund with an onchain share class; it invests in Schroders’ Emerging Market Bond Fund, while investors hold tokenized shares in the feeder rather than directly in the Schroders fund.

Centrifuge, which has more than $750 million in tokenized assets on its platform, provides infrastructure for issuing and managing the assets. “Until now, onchain fixed income has largely been built around cash and short-duration government securities,” said Anil Sood, chief strategy and growth officer at Centrifuge. “Emerging markets debt introduces a fundamentally different source of risk and return.”

The launch comes as tokenized U.S. Treasuries and money market funds account for $14 billion of the $39 billion tokenized real-world asset market tracked by RWA.xyz. Those products have gained traction as blockchain-based ways to earn yield on cash and move assets across networks, while emerging markets bonds introduce exposure linked to borrower creditworthiness, currency movements and economic conditions across developing countries.

“As the digital financial ecosystem develops, we also recognise the importance of bringing relevant emerging markets debt opportunities onchain, helping to make the asset class more accessible and fit for the future,” John Mensack, senior investment director of fixed income at Schroders, said in a statement.

The move is Schroders’ first tokenization initiative in Ireland. Schroders obtained regulatory approval in Ireland in August for its first tokenized share class, a U.S. dollar money market fund called Schroders Onchain Active Returns (SOAR).

“The arrival of an asset manager like Schroders marks a new stage for onchain capital markets,” Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at the Solana Foundation, said in a statement. “We are moving beyond tokenized cash products toward a market where sophisticated, actively managed strategies can be issued, distributed and integrated”