Hamilton Lane, an alternative investment management firm, has launched the first private credit fund on the Solana blockchain. Investors can now access the asset manager’s Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE) on Solana. This makes Hamilton Lane the first major investment manager to place its funds on the blockchain network.

Hamilton Lane Partners with Libre

In a recent announcement, Hamilton Lane revealed a collaboration with Libre, a Web3 protocol backed by Brevan Howard and Nomura. This partnership allows Hamilton Lane to utilize the Web3 protocol’s technology to issue and distribute its funds on-chain.

Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at Solana Foundation, emphasized that the integration and launch of SCOPE on the blockchain are significant steps toward democratizing finance. This initiative aims to make institutional finance accessible to more investors, moving away from the traditional focus on high-net-worth individuals.

β€œLibre’s announcement of an onchain fund with Hamilton Lane and Brevan Howard – two stalwarts of alternative investments – is yet another revelation in the changing democratization of finance. Bringing real-world assets onchain provides more flexibility and access to investors around the world,”

Growing Embrace of Blockchain Amid RWA Growth

The collaboration between Hamilton Lane and Libre is part of a broader trend where major investment firms are turning to blockchain to tokenize funds. This shift has created a significant market where real-world assets (RWAs) are now being brought on-chain. According to Ducoff, onchain RWAs broadly represent traditional securities like private funds, money market funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These also include financial assets like private credit and real estate that are tokenized.

Libre and Solana as Key Players

Libre provides the infrastructure that firms can leverage to bring these RWAs to users, offering additional benefits such as trading and collateralized lending. Meanwhile, Solana is a “low latency” network with high throughput capability, which is increasingly sought after for tokenization.

Previously, Hamilton Lane tokenized its SCOPE fund on Securitize, a U.S.-based digital securities issuance platform. Securitize also serves as the transfer agent and broker-dealer for BlackRock’s BUIDL, a tokenized money market fund that recently achieved a $500 million market cap within just four months of its launch.

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