Global asset manager Schroders brings emerging market bond fund to Solana

Schroders, a London-based global asset manager founded more than 200 years ago, is bringing an emerging markets bond strategy to the Solana (SOL) blockchain, expanding its push into tokenized investments.

The firm, which oversaw $1.1 trillion (£867.8 billion) in assets under management as of June, said Wednesday it is working with Centrifuge to tokenize its Schroder International Selection Fund Emerging Market Bonds strategy.

The strategy invests in debt issued by governments and companies across emerging economies, giving investors exposure to markets and currencies beyond the U.S. and Europe. Schroders has managed emerging markets debt for more than 50 years, with over 40 investment professionals dedicated to the asset class.

Tokenization beyond money market funds

Schroders’ move highlights how global asset managers’ tokenization push is expanding beyond the cash-like products that have dominated the sector’s early growth. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries and money market funds gained traction as ways for investors to earn yield on cash while moving assets across blockchain networks. Those products still make up $14 billion of the $39 billion tokenized real-world asset market, tracked by RWA.xyz.

Tokenized real-world asset market by asset classes (RWA.xyz)

Emerging markets bonds offer a different proposition, with returns tied to the creditworthiness of borrowers, currency movements and economic conditions across developing countries.

"Until now, onchain fixed income has largely been built around cash and short-duration government securities," said Anil Sood, chief strategy and growth officer at Centrifuge. "Emerging markets debt introduces a fundamentally different source of risk and return."

Centrifuge, with more than $750 million in tokenized assets on its platform, provides the infrastructure to issue and manage those assets. SISF is legally a feeder fund with an onchain share class. It invests in Schroders’ Emerging Market Bond Fund, and investors hold tokenized shares in the feeder rather than directly in the Schroders fund

"As the digital financial ecosystem develops, we also recognise the importance of bringing relevant emerging markets debt opportunities onchain, helping to make the asset class more accessible and fit for the future," John Mensack, senior investment director of fixed income at Schroders, said in a statement.

The move marks Schroders' debut on the Solana blockchain, though it’s not firm’s first tokenization initiative. Schroders obtained in August regulatory approval in Ireland for its first tokenized share class of a U.S. dollar money market fund, dubbed Schroders Onchain Active Returns (SOAR).

“The arrival of an asset manager like Schroders marks a new stage for onchain capital markets,” Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at the Solana Foundation, said in a statement. “We are moving beyond tokenized cash products toward a market where sophisticated, actively managed strategies can be issued, distributed and integrated on public blockchain infrastructure.”

Schroders is the latest global asset manager to bring investment strategies onto blockchain rails.

Federated Hermes (FHI), the Pittsburgh-based investment manager overseeing $911 billion in assets, unveiled plans in October to issue its first tokenized fund shares in early 2027. New York Life's asset management arm, which oversees over $800 billion, has also entered the market through Centrifuge, bringing a high-yield corporate bond strategy onto blockchain infrastructure.