Prometheum, Federated Hermes Team Up on Tokenized Fund Access

Prometheum and Federated Hermes have struck a partnership aimed at placing tokenized fund products inside standard US brokerage accounts, a move that would carry blockchain-based fund shares beyond specialist venues and into the infrastructure ordinary investors already use.

Federated Hermes, an established investment manager, would bring conventional fund products into a framework built around digital asset securities, while Prometheum supplies the regulated trading and custody plumbing for tokens. Bringing the two together is intended to let investors hold tokenized versions of funds the way they hold other securities.

Tokenized funds have largely lived in pilot programs and closed experiments. Supporters argue that representing fund shares on a distributed ledger can simplify record-keeping and settlement and widen access, but regulators have moved cautiously on how such products are structured and distributed, and the model has yet to be tested at scale in mainstream brokerage channels.

Much depends on execution. The arrangement must satisfy securities rules, fit within existing broker-dealer systems and persuade investors that a tokenized share is interchangeable in practice with the conventional version. For now the deal signals intent rather than volume, and the timeline for client-facing availability remains to be seen.