Brevan Howard-Backed Tokenization Firm Libre Goes Live

• Tokenization platform Libre, which is working with Nomura’s Laser Digital, Brevan Howard’s WebN Group and Hamilton Lane, goes live.

• Libre has added a tokenized version of a BlackRock money-market fund so investors can earn yield while parking their capital.

• CEO Avtar Sehra says collateralized lending with Nomura’s Laser Digital as liquidity is planned for early in the third quarter.

Libre, the startup led by tokenization pioneer Avtar Sehra and working with Nomura’s Laser Digital, Brevan Howard’s WebN group and private markets giant Hamilton Lane, has gone live, the company said on Tuesday.

As well as tokenized access to Brevan Howard funds and Hamilton Lane’s fixed-income type products, Libre has added a blockchain-based version of a BlackRock money-market fund using Ethereum layer 2 Polygon’s development kit, so investors can earn yield while parking their capital.

“Our clients were asking about how they could park their money in a form that gives them money-market returns and easily switch over to anything else,” Sehra said in an interview. “We have plugged that in quite quickly over the last two weeks, allowing users from Polygon mainnet to be able to park cash into a money market account, as well as Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane etc.”

Tokenization, the creation of a virtual version of a real-world asset (RWA) on the blockchain, has become an area of focus for big financial firms, which now find themselves edging closer toward public networks like the Ethereum blockchain.

The addition of access to things like tokenized T-bills makes the Libre on-chain trading experience more holistic, Sehra said, but his platform has its eyes on much bigger innovation down the road.

“Ultimately, we’re going to be launching collateralized lending with Nomura’s Laser Digital as the liquidity provider at launch in around early Q3,” Sehra said. “So we’re going to be adding new services that would normally only be available to those working with tens of millions of dollars 10s of millions. With our facility, you’ll be able to get access to collateralized lending for amounts as small as $50,000.”