CONFIRMED: The partnership and timing come from the companies’ joint press release. Details from an interview with CoinDesk are marked REPORTED.
Federated Hermes, a US asset manager, and Prometheum, a crypto market-infrastructure firm, have announced a partnership to issue tokenized securities funds and sell them through regulated broker-dealers [1].
“The firms expect to bring the first tokenized fund product to market in Q1 2027,” the release says [1]. No specific funds and no blockchains have been named yet [2].
What is a tokenized fund?
A tokenized fund is an ordinary investment fund whose shares are recorded as tokens on a blockchain rather than only in a traditional register. Supporters say this can make settlement faster and let the shares move between platforms more easily.
Who does what (CONFIRMED)
According to the release [1]:
- Federated Hermes brings its fund management. It had $911.6 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2026.
- ProFinancial, Inc., a Prometheum broker-dealer, will support distribution of the tokenized products.
- Prometheum Capital LLC will custody, clear and settle the products for its customers, and make them available to other (“introducing”) broker-dealers through its correspondent clearing platform.
The aim is to put tokenized funds inside the brokerage accounts and adviser relationships people already use. “Until now, tokenized funds have primarily been issued on platforms that sit outside the mainstream brokerage system where most Americans invest,” said Aaron Kaplan, Prometheum’s founder and co-CEO [1].
“Tokenized funds are the logical next step for our broker-dealer and RIA clients, who increasingly see demand for on-chain access to traditional investments,” said Kevin Barr, Director of Digital Assets at Federated Hermes [1].
What Federated Hermes told CoinDesk (REPORTED)
In an interview with CoinDesk [2], Barr said:
- Money market funds are “a likely starting point”, because liquidity funds are a large part of Federated Hermes’ business. “There’s enormous interest in the industry at large around tokenized money market funds,” he said.
- Federated Hermes plans to issue tokenized share classes itself. CoinDesk notes that its earlier work with Archax, Goldman Sachs and Conduit Digital involved third parties issuing digital versions of its fund holdings.
- The pitch is speed and programmability. “You can have instantaneous movement of those funds,” Barr said.
What this means
- Another large manager is moving on-chain. Federated Hermes joins firms such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton that already offer blockchain-based fund versions [2].
- It is a plan, not a product. Nothing is on sale yet, and the funds and blockchains are still to be announced.
- Distribution is the focus. The partnership is about reaching ordinary brokerage customers, not just crypto-native investors.
Sources
- Prometheum / Federated Hermes, “Prometheum and Federated Hermes Announce Strategic Partnership to Issue Tokenized Securities Funds”, press release, 13 October 2026. https://www.prometheum.com/press-releases/prometheum-and-federated-hermes-announce-strategic-partnership-to-issue-tokenized-securities-funds
- CoinDesk (Krisztian Sandor), “Federated Hermes joins Wall Street’s tokenization push with plans for first onchain fund shares”, 13 October 2026. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/13/federated-hermes-joins-wall-street-s-tokenization-push-with-plans-for-first-onchain-fund-shares
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