BlackRock's BUIDL fund gets a weekend USDC exit through Securitize and Ethena

Eligible holders of BlackRock’s BUIDL can now swap BUIDL for USDC and other stablecoins after banking hours and on weekends. The facility was created by Securitize and Ethena and was launched on Thursday.

The pool started with $50 million of funding against a $100 million cap.

Securitize runs the facility and Ethena backs it

Approved investors can trade BUIDL for supported stablecoins like USDC or convert those stablecoins back into BUIDL, according to the Securitize announcement.

Securitize operates the facility, and Ethena is the backer.

The facility grants investors access to liquidity on Saturday or Sunday without having to wait for markets to open on Monday.

“Tokenization is about more than putting assets onchain. It’s about making those assets more useful,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize.

“Digital assets operate around the clock, and institutional liquidity needs to keep pace,” said Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs.

The launch gives eligible people access to the facility framework from Ethena’s expanded deal with BlackRock.

BlackRock’s Aladdin platform included Ethena’s USDe in June, and Cryptopolitan reported Ethena would back a $100 million liquidity facility via Securitize.

A second $50 million can arrive within about an hour

The $100 million number is a cap. The pool starts with $50 million split into $25 million in USDC and $25 million in BUIDL.

An additional $50 million can be added within about an hour. A footnote in the release says top-ups depend on the facility’s terms, capacity and availability.

BUIDL aims for a stable $1 net asset value but does not guarantee it. The fund holds overnight repo and three-month Treasuries, and its tokens are only accessible to whitelisted investors that pass KYC and AML checks.

Whitelisted holders can send tokens to each other on-chain 24/7. Cashing out to dollars is slower and hinges on business days.

If a user wants to redeem or cash out, the process happens on the same day or the next redemption date, depending on the time of the request.

Securitize and Ethena already work together on USDtb. USDtb is Ethena’s digital dollar, and it is backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL.

Securitize went public through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. It now trades on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ. As of September, it held about $5 billion in tokenized assets.

Other tokenized fund partners include Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR and VanEck.

Securitize’s stock closed trading at $8.39 on Thursday, down about 7.4%.

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