EXCLUSIVE. BlackRock among winners of Sky's (ex-MakerDAO) $1 billion tender

BlackRock is continuing to make inroads into the world of decentralised finance (DeFi). According to our information, the American asset management giant has been chosen by Sky (formerly Maker) as part of its tender to manage part of its cash. This is a $1 billion tender.

BlackRock, through its Buidl fund (tokenized by Securitize), will manage $500 million. According to our sources, Centrifuge, in partnership with Janus Henderson and Anemoy (a Centrifuge ecosystem member), will handle $200 million. Superstate, the third winner, will also manage $300 million.

Contacted, neither BlackRock, Centrifuge nor Superstate wished to comment on the information.

The tender, dubbed the "Spark Tokenization Grand Prix", was opened in July 2024 by MakerDAO - in the meantime now Sky - to increase its exposure to US Treasuries and other short-dated tokenized assets. The aim: to strike the right balance between liquidity and capital efficiency, by selecting products capable of offering an optimised return while ensuring frequent rebalancing.

Among the candidates in the running were several major players:

• BlackRock via its "BUIDL" fund tokenised by Securitize (BUIDL has just surpassed $1 billion).
• Centrifuge via the Janus Henderson Anemoy Treasury Fund.
• French bank Société Générale via its crypto subsidiary SG Forge.
• Ondo Finance, a specialist in the tokenisation of Treasury bonds.
• Superstate, Mountain Protocol, OpenEden, Spiko, and several other companies in the RWA sector.

This final choice represents a strategic turning point for Sky, which thus entrusts almost a quarter of its cash (estimated at $4 billion) to BlackRock, Centrifuge and its partners.

A leap forward for the tokenisation of real assets

The funds allocated by Sky will gradually be invested via the tokenised funds of its partners.

This decision illustrates the growing momentum of tokenised real assets (RWAs), which are seeing rapid adoption within DeFi protocols and financial institutions.

According to DeFiLlama, the size of the RWA market has doubled in one year, approaching $10 billion. MakerDAO's allocation should not only increase this market by 10%, but also serve as an example to other protocols looking to optimise their cash management via blockchain.

This movement is part of a wider trend, illustrated by similar initiatives:

• Arbitrum STEP, which allocates part of its cash to real assets.
• Ethena, which in August 2024 closed a tender to allocate its reserve fund to RWA (BUIDL won 40% of this contract).
• The rise of stablecoins backed by Treasury bonds, like those offered by Mountain Protocol or OpenEden.

With this billion-dollar allocation, Sky is sending a strong signal about its vision for the future of DeFi. Rather than limiting itself to a purely algorithmic model, the project continues to integrate real-world assets to strengthen the stability and profitability of its DAI stablecoin.