Amundi Pioneers New Era: Europe’s First Tokenized Money Market Fund Debuts on Ethereum
Introduction: A Watershed Moment for European Finance
In a landmark move for the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets, Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, has launched the continent's first tokenized money market fund on the Ethereum blockchain. This initiative, involving the AMUNDI FUNDS CASH EUR fund, marks a significant step in the institutional adoption of blockchain technology for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Announced on Thursday, November 27, 2025, the fund leverages the public Ethereum network to enhance transparency and transaction traceability, offering investors a novel bridge between conventional financial products and the on-chain world. With Amundi overseeing €2.2 trillion in assets, this development is not merely a pilot project but a robust signal that major financial institutions are ready to operationalize blockchain solutions at scale.
The Amundi-CACEIS Partnership: Building the Tokenization Infrastructure
The successful launch of this pioneering fund rests on a strategic partnership with CACEIS, a leading asset servicing banking group. CACEIS is not just a facilitator but the core technology provider, delivering the essential tokenization infrastructure and a dedicated digital platform that handles subscriptions and redemptions for the fund. This division of labor is critical: Amundi brings its immense asset management expertise and the underlying fund product, while CACEIS provides the technological backbone that makes the tokenization process secure, compliant, and functional.
According to the announcement, the distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the public Ethereum blockchain are specifically employed to "ensure transparent record-keeping of fund units and traceability of transactions." The first successful transaction was recorded on the Ethereum network on November 4, preceding the public announcement and demonstrating a live, working system. This model—where a traditional finance giant partners with a specialized technology firm—is becoming a blueprint for how large-scale asset tokenization can be achieved without compromising on the security and reliability expected by institutional clients.
Understanding the Product: The AMUNDI FUNDS CASH EUR Money Market Fund
At its heart, the product is a tokenized share of an existing, regulated money market fund. Money market funds are traditionally considered low-risk investments that invest in high-quality, short-term debt instruments like government Treasury bills and commercial paper. They are prized for their stability and liquidity, aiming to maintain a stable net asset value (NAV).
The AMUNDI FUNDS CASH EUR fund is now available through a dual-distribution model:
- Traditional Channels: Investors can access the fund through conventional means, as they have for years.
- Blockchain-Based Distribution: Investors can now hold tokenized representations of fund shares directly on the Ethereum blockchain.
This dual approach is strategically vital. It does not force existing institutional clients into an unfamiliar technological paradigm overnight. Instead, it creates an on-ramp, allowing crypto-native investors and forward-thinking institutions to interact with a familiar financial product using the benefits of blockchain—such as potential for 24/7 transaction settlement and enhanced transparency—while maintaining a parallel traditional track.
The Strategic Vision: Amundi’s Push into Digital Asset Distribution
For an institution of Amundi's scale, this is far more than a technological experiment; it is a calculated strategic move into the future of finance. Jean-Jacques Barbéris, Head of Institutional and Corporate Clients at Amundi, explicitly framed the initiative within a broader global trend, stating, “The tokenization of assets is a transformation set to accelerate in the coming years around the world. This first initiative on a money market fund demonstrates our expertise and the robustness of our methodology in covering concrete use cases.”
This statement underscores several key points. First, Amundi views asset tokenization as an inevitable and accelerating transformation, not a fleeting trend. Second, by choosing a money market fund—a cornerstone of conservative portfolio management—as its first use case, Amundi is signaling that its approach is built on "robustness" and "methodology." They are entering the digital asset space with their most reliable products first, aiming to build trust and demonstrate tangible utility before expanding into more complex asset classes.
Ethereum’s Dominance in the Real-World Asset (RWA) Ecosystem Solidified
Amundi’s choice of Ethereum is a powerful endorsement of the network's position as the leading platform for RWA tokenization. Data from RWA.xyz confirms this dominance, showing that Ethereum holds approximately 64% market share of the total value of tokenized assets. When Layer-2 scaling solutions built on Ethereum are included, this dominance climbs to over 72%.
This is not an isolated case. The largest tokenized treasury fund in existence, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), resides on Ethereum with a total asset value of $2.3 billion. Similarly, Franklin Templeton’s money market fund has more than $825 million in assets tokenized primarily on Ethereum (with small shares on other chains). The collective movement of these titans of finance—Amundi, BlackRock, and Franklin Templeton—onto Ethereum creates a powerful network effect. It establishes Ethereum’s technical standards, security model, and liquidity pools as the de facto foundation for institutional-grade RWA projects.
Furthermore, RWA.xyz reports that Ethereum also hosts more than 60% of all stablecoins, which are themselves a form of tokenized real-world assets (cash equivalents). This creates a synergistic ecosystem where stablecoins used for transactions can seamlessly interact with tokenized funds like Amundi's, all within the same technological environment.
The Broader RWA Market Context: An All-Time High in Value
The launch of Amundi's fund occurs during a period of unprecedented growth for the entire RWA tokenization sector. According to RWA.xyz, the total value of tokenized assets on-chain has reached an all-time high of $36 billion. This figure represents a diverse range of assets, including treasury bonds, private credit, real estate, and now, prominently, money market funds from some of the world's most respected asset managers.
This growth trajectory highlights a maturing market. What began with experimental projects and small-scale issuances has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry attracting the most significant players in global finance. The entry of a European leader like Amundi adds substantial weight and geographical diversity to this trend, which has been heavily driven by U.S.-based firms until now.
Conclusion: A Paradigm Shift Gathers Momentum
Amundi's launch of Europe's first tokenized money market fund on Ethereum is a definitive milestone. It validates the practical application of blockchain technology for streamlining and modernizing core financial services. This is not a speculative venture but a functional deployment by one of the world's most conservative and regulated industries.
The strategic implications are profound. For traditional finance, it demonstrates a clear path toward operational efficiency, enhanced transparency, and access to new investor bases. For the crypto ecosystem, it represents deepening liquidity and legitimacy, as trillions of euros in traditional assets begin their journey on-chain.
For readers and market observers, the key developments to watch next will be:
- The uptake and volume of the tokenized fund shares versus their traditional counterparts.
- Whether other European asset managers follow Amundi's lead in rapid succession.
- How regulatory frameworks in Europe, particularly under MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets), evolve to further accommodate and govern such tokenized products.
Amundi has not just launched a fund; it has helped ignite a new phase in finance where the boundaries between traditional and digital assets are becoming seamlessly integrated. The transformation is indeed accelerating.