Ethena Labs has expanded its holdings of BlackRock’s BUIDL token by another $225 million, according to data from Arkham Intelligence on March 25. The purchase brings Ethena’s total BUIDL holdings to $1.29 billion.
The investment strengthens Ethena’s position in the tokenized U.S. Treasury market, where blockchain-based products are attracting growing interest from financial institutions.
Ethena’s USDtb synthetic dollar is backed by approximately $1.4 billion in assets. According to USDtb’s transparency data, BUIDL accounts for 90% of its reserves, with USDT and USDC making up the remainder.
ETHENA NOW HOLDS OVER $1B OF BLACKROCK BUIDL TOKENS
ETHENA JUST MINTED $225M BUIDL-I CLASS https://t.co/HRmuO6fuyP
— Arkham (@arkham) March 25, 2025
BUIDL gains ground in tokenized Treasuries
The tokenized U.S. Treasury market has reached $5.2 billion, with an average yield of 4.34%, according to RWA.xyz. BUIDL, launched in March 2024 by BlackRock and Securitize, invests in cash, Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements.
BlackRock’s fund has grown to more than $1.9 billion in assets under management, representing about 37% of the tokenized Treasury market. Franklin Templeton’s On-Chain U.S. Government Money Fund and Hashnote’s Short Duration Yield Coin are among its competitors.
The growth highlights a practical use case for tokenized real-world assets. Treasury exposure can be integrated into blockchain-based financial products, allowing protocols such as Ethena to use traditional fixed-income assets within crypto markets.
ALSO READ: Ethena Plans $250M Allocation to Securitize’s Tokenized CLO Fund on Solana
Network expansion and DeFi demand
On March 25, BlackRock and Securitize announced that BUIDL would become available on Solana. The fund already operates across networks including Ethereum, Aptos, and Arbitrum.
This expansion could make BUIDL more accessible to DeFi applications that need yield-bearing assets. Its use as a reserve asset by projects such as Sky, formerly MakerDAO, shows how tokenized Treasuries can support on-chain financial products.
However, Ethena’s growing exposure also raises concentration concerns. With most USDtb reserves held in BUIDL, changes in the fund’s liquidity, access conditions, or market demand could affect the synthetic dollar’s reserve structure.
Traditional finance moves further on-chain
Fidelity Investments is also preparing to launch a tokenized U.S. money market fund and stablecoin. The development points to rising competition among financial institutions seeking a role in blockchain-based markets.
The next stage will depend on whether tokenized Treasury products can maintain liquidity, attract sustained demand, and support a wider range of DeFi applications without creating new concentration risks.
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