F/m Investments Seeks SEC Approval to Tokenize Treasury ETF Shares

F/m Investments, an $18bn asset manager, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 21, 2026 seeking permission to represent shares of its US Treasury 3‑Month Bill ETF (TBIL) as blockchain tokens on a permissioned ledger. The proposal would keep the same CUSIP, investor rights, fees and regulatory protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940; tokenized shares would be one‑for‑one exchangeable with conventional book‑entry ETF shares and maintain existing governance, daily transparency, third‑party custody and audit requirements. The filing is the first explicit ETF issuer request to treat registered investment company shares as blockchain tokens and comes amid growing institutional momentum for tokenized securities — including a DTC tokenization pilot, tokenized U.S. Treasury volumes near $9.57bn notional, and other institutional products from BlackRock and major banks. F/m frames benefits as faster settlement (near‑instant vs T+1/T+2), extended trading hours, fractional ownership and operational efficiencies for institutional treasury trading while preserving current market structure and custody models. If the SEC grants relief, the filing could provide a regulatory template for other asset managers and accelerate regulated blockchain settlement in capital markets; a denial or delay might push tokenization toward less regulated corridors. For crypto traders, the filing signals increased regulatory engagement with tokenized securities and a clearer bridge between traditional liquidity pools and blockchain rails — potentially boosting on‑chain treasury liquidity and institutional flows into regulated tokenized assets.