The Solana network attracted its first direct real-world asset tokenization gig on Tuesday after $920 billion asset manager Hamilton Lane announced the launch of a credit fund on the blockchain. Solana users can now access Hamilton Lane’s tokenized Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE) on the Solana network, the company stated.
The launch featured a partnership between Hamilton Lane and tokenization-focused web3 protocol Libre. Libre is a joint venture between hedge fund Brevan Howard’s WebN Group and financial services giant Nomura’s Laser Digital.
SCOPE Tokenization on Solana
Libre stated that the launch of the RWA tokenization on the Solana network would allow investors to access top-tier funds on-chain and in a fully compliant manner. The firm’s CEO, Avtar Sehra, noted that the move was compelling, considering Solana’s fascinating features.
“Solana’s importance to financial services is quite significant around secondary trading. They have developed the chain for capabilities of increasing throughput, so the number of transactions per second, and also the reduction of the latency between transactions. Since we’re planning to launch secondary trading services later this year, we decided to provide access to all of our funds on Solana now,” Sehra said.
Before the launch, Solana users could only access tokenized funds through a third party, Ondo Finance. The Solana move was also not Hamilton Lane’s first dive into asset tokenization on blockchains. Hamilton Lane launched tokenized SCOPE on the digital securities issuance platform Securitize.
Bullish for SOL
The Solana network has had its fair share of attraction following the memecoin frenzy on the blockchain. However, attracting such a caliber of asset manager as Hamilton Lane signifies a shift from just retail users to institutional adoption.
This would also help the course to launch a Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), as Bitcoin and Ethereum already have the product trading in the market. BlackRock’s in-depth involvement in RWA tokenization could spur the asset manager’s interest in the Solana network, further increasing the likelihood of a Solana trust fund.
VanEck and Ark Invest’s 21 Shares applied for the Solana spot ETF last month, becoming the first asset managers to show interest in the ETF product.
SOL’s price has gone parabolic following speculations of an ETF product, growing over 30% in the past month. At press time, the asset traded at $177.66.