BNP Paribas Pioneers Regulated Finance on Public Blockchains

BNP Paribas has made significant strides in integrating regulated financial products directly onto public blockchain infrastructure. The latest initiative involves the launch of a tokenized share class of an existing French money market fund on the Ethereum public blockchain. This move allows pre-verified investors to hold or transfer digital shares, while maintaining strict regulatory oversight.

The use of a permissioned framework restricts access to approved parties, ensuring alignment with existing financial regulations. BNP Paribas relied on the ERC-3643 standard for regulated digital assets to support this structure, covering the entire lifecycle of the tokenized fund, including issuance, transfer administration, and connectivity with the public network.

This initiative builds on earlier blockchain efforts by BNP Paribas, including a tokenized fund launched on a private blockchain in Luxembourg in 2025 and a renewable energy financing bond issued directly on Ethereum in 2022. The bank is also playing a central role in Qivalis, a consortium-based project aimed at launching a Euro-denominated stablecoin.

Qivalis has been structured to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation and is in the process of applying for an electronic money institution license with the Dutch Central Bank. A commercial launch is currently targeted for the second half of 2026, with deployment expected to begin on Ethereum, followed by expansion to other networks such as Polygon and Base.