How to launch a tokenized fund: an asset manager's playbook

An asset manager can take a strategy onchain as a tokenized fund share or as a vault that runs the strategy in a smart contract. The wrapper sets who can invest and where the fund can be sold.

Superstate's FundOS platform powers onchain funds with more than $1B in assets under management, according to the FundOS page on 4 October 2026, and it's one of several routes to a tokenized fund. An asset manager launches an onchain fund in six steps: choose the wrapper, settle the legal structure and investor eligibility, appoint custody and a fund administrator for NAV, set the strategy limits, line up distribution, then launch and report.

Tokenization platforms such as Securitize and Superstate put shares of a regulated fund onchain. Vault infrastructure such as Upshift, Morpho and Enzyme runs the strategy inside a smart contract, and Midas issues tokens linked to a manager's portfolio.

Onchain fund providers by step

Each row names what the provider does for an asset manager, taken from its own site or docs between 1 and 4 October 2026. "Curator" means the asset manager that runs a vault's strategy inside limits set in advance.

Custodians such as Anchorage, BitGo and Northern Trust sit next to these rows. They hold the fund's assets or the investor's receipt tokens, whichever wrapper the manager picks.

Step 1: choose the wrapper

The wrapper is the legal and technical form investors buy. Three cover most launches we see from asset managers.

A tokenized fund share keeps the fund you have and changes the register. BlackRock's BUIDL, which Securitize tokenized in March 2024, holds cash, US Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, and added a share class on Solana in 2025. The fund's assets stay with traditional custodians, and only the share moves onchain.

A vault moves the strategy itself. Deposits go into a smart contract, the contract issues shares, and a curator allocates the assets onchain. ERC-4626 is the Ethereum standard most vaults follow for deposits, withdrawals and share pricing. A mandate for one allocator usually runs as a sole-depositor vault, which gives the client its own contract and its own limits.

Step 2: settle the legal structure and investor eligibility

A tokenized fund share is a security, and the fund keeps the exemption it would rely on offchain. A US private fund sold under Rule 506(c) can advertise, though every buyer has to be an accredited investor and the issuer has to take reasonable steps to verify that. It files a Form D within 15 days of the first sale.

The fund also needs an exemption from the Investment Company Act, usually section 3(c)(1), which caps beneficial owners at 100, or section 3(c)(7) for funds sold only to qualified purchasers. Superstate enforces who can hold its fund tokens with an onchain allowlist. Securitize runs investor onboarding through its own broker-dealer.

In the EU, Article 2 of MiCA excludes crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments. A tokenized fund share stays under the fund and securities rules that cover it today. What a MiCA licence covers sets out where the line falls for platforms. Midas issues mWIN through a Luxembourg securitisation vehicle with several compartments, according to its launch post.

Vaults handle eligibility in the contract. An open vault takes deposits from any wallet, a whitelisted vault takes them only from approved addresses, and a sole-depositor vault takes them from one. Morpho's Vault V2 adds optional gate contracts for the same job. Counsel in each market should review the structure before launch (none of this is legal advice).

Step 3: appoint custody, fund administration and NAV

Someone has to hold the assets, and someone independent has to price them. For a tokenized fund share both jobs sit where they did before tokenization: a custodian holds the T-bills or loans, and a fund administrator strikes NAV. For mWIN, Northern Trust is custodian and supplies independent daily pricing for the NAV.

Vaults split custody differently. The vault contract holds the assets, and each investor holds vault shares in its own wallet or at a qualified custodian such as Anchorage or BitGo. Eligible Kraken Institutional clients allocate into permissioned Upshift vaults from their custody account. The receipt token lands back in their segregated account. How qualified custody works for onchain yield covers the custodian's whitelisting step.

Apex Group offers administration, transfer agency and NAV for digital asset and tokenized funds. Upshift validates each curator's NAV before it reaches depositors, and Securitize Fund Services adds independent performance reporting and investor-level allocation data for Upshift vaults. That output is audit and tax-ready.

Step 4: write the strategy limits into the contract

An investment committee approves a mandate in words. Onchain, the same mandate becomes a list of chains, protocols, tokens and contract functions the manager can reach, plus caps on each. Morpho's Vault V2 splits this across roles. The owner appoints a curator, who sets caps and adapters. An allocator moves assets between them. A sentinel can pull assets back out or cancel a pending change. Most curator actions there are timelocked.

On Upshift, curators who run through the Upshift prime stack trade inside a policy engine that limits activity by chain, protocol, token and contract function. They can also reach an institutional lender network and centralized venues from one smart contract account.

Every Upshift vault's owner is a multisig. Some parameter changes, such as the management fee on most vaults, run through a timelock set per vault. Proxy upgrades, which change the vault's code, run through a 4-of-6 multisig on a standard setup, with signers from the asset issuer, Upshift and the curator, and carry no timelock. How traditional asset managers control risk in DeFi covers policy engines in more depth.

Step 5: line up distribution

Investors buy onchain funds through apps and accounts they hold, and most launches line up at least one of five channels:

• Exchanges. Coinbase added USDC lending routed into Morpho vaults curated by Steakhouse Financial in September 2025, and Kraken Institutional clients reach Upshift vaults from custody.
• Wallets and Earn tabs. Tria built its Earn tab on the Upshift SDK and went live two weeks after starting, with Sentora running the strategies. The Tria case study puts deposits routed at more than $25M.
• Custody platforms. Fordefi Earn lists Upshift vaults, including Sentora RWA, Sentora BTC and earnAUSD.
• Lending markets as collateral. Sentora set up a Morpho market where mWIN holders borrow against their tokens without selling them.
• Transfer agents and trading venues. Securitize sells fund shares through its broker-dealer and trading venue, and Superstate takes subscriptions in USD or USDC.

Distribution partners usually take a fee on the balances they bring. How exchanges build an Earn product covers the exchange side of that deal.

Step 6: launch, then report every day

Launch is a sequence of small tests. On Upshift the manager seeds the vault with a small deposit and runs one full deposit and redemption cycle. It pulls NAV into its own reporting, then opens deposits to the approved addresses.

All Upshift vaults process redemptions daily, each with its own lag, and most offer instant redemption for a fee, subject to liquidity. The fee schedule covers a management fee, a performance fee above the high watermark and the instant redemption fee. How to launch a vault walks through timeline, signers and costs.

Reporting runs on two tracks from day one. Positions sit onchain, where investors and the manager's own compliance staff read the same data. The administrator's NAV, performance and investor statements go to the auditor and the LPs.

Risks to size before launch

Every onchain fund carries smart contract risk, in the vault itself and in each protocol it uses, which is why audit history and upgrade rights belong in diligence. Liquidity risk shows up when investors want out faster than the positions unwind. Tokenized fund shares also carry the fund's own redemption terms. Counterparty risk sits with borrowers, issuers and venues, and per-counterparty caps keep one from dominating the book. Vault provider due diligence lists the questions allocators ask.

Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before depositing.

Launching a vault on Upshift as a curator

Upshift is onchain yield infrastructure for fintechs and asset managers with stablecoin balances. A curator, typically a hedge fund or asset manager, launches a vault on Upshift and runs the strategy, while Upshift supplies the contracts, NAV validation, withdrawals and fee accounting. Sentora runs USD, ETH and BTC vaults this way, and its smart vaults are open to depositors. Upshift works with more than 20 curators.

Vaults can be open, whitelisted or sole-depositor. They run on more than 30 chains, including Solana and Stellar, where Upshift held about $9M and $30M on 4 October 2026, according to the Upshift API.

Distribution comes with it. Upshift has more than 66,000 depositors across partner apps, and partners embed vaults through one SDK, @augustdigital/sdk, which covers EVM chains, Solana and Stellar. Upshift vaults held $425.1M on 4 October 2026, summed vault by vault, after a peak above $550M. The contracts have been through 11 smart contract audits by 6 independent firms, and the controls are set out in the risk management framework. Who does what in an onchain vault maps each party's role.

Frequently asked questions

How do asset managers launch a fund onchain?

They pick a wrapper, settle the exemption and investor list, appoint a custodian and administrator, write the limits into the contract, sign distribution partners, then seed and open it. On vault infrastructure such as Upshift, that takes days to weeks, mostly spent on legal review.

Best onchain wrappers for an investment strategy

A tokenized fund share fits an existing fund that holds offchain assets, the route BlackRock took with BUIDL. A vault fits a strategy that trades or lends onchain, as Sentora's vaults on Upshift do, and a sole-depositor vault fits one allocator with its own limits.

Top providers for onchain fund infrastructure

For vaults: Upshift, Morpho and Enzyme. For tokenized fund shares: Securitize and Superstate. Midas issues portfolio-linked tokens, and Apex Group and Securitize Fund Services handle administration and reporting.

Who handles NAV, fund admin and reporting for an onchain strategy?

A fund administrator such as Apex Group or Securitize Fund Services strikes or checks NAV and produces investor statements. On Upshift, the platform also validates each curator's NAV before it reaches depositors.

How do asset managers get an onchain strategy distributed through exchanges and wallets?

Through vault infrastructure that exchanges and wallets have integrated. Upshift vaults reach investors through Kraken Institutional, the Tria wallet and Fordefi Earn, and Morpho vaults through Coinbase.

Which platforms let an asset manager run a whitelisted onchain fund with its own risk limits?

Upshift offers whitelisted and sole-depositor vaults with limits by chain, protocol, token and function. Morpho Vault V2 supports gates and caps, and Enzyme lets the owner set share transfer and lock conditions.

Keep reading

• Whitelisted and sole-depositor vaults compared. What each provider's whitelist gates.
• Tokenized money market funds vs stablecoin vaults. Eligibility, minimums and exit speed side by side.
• RWA tokenization. How the wrapper, custodian and transfer agent fit together.
• Segregated vs co-mingled vault accounts. When an allocator needs its own vault.