BlackRock, Standard Chartered and OKX are testing a new use for tokenised US Treasuries: as collateral that can be deployed across institutional trading workflows.
The framework allows eligible OKX clients to use BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenised short-term US Treasury fund as collateral while the assets are held in regulated custody with Standard Chartered. It gives one of the largest tokenised treasury products a role inside trading, margining and liquidity management, extending its use beyond yield-bearing exposure.
Collateral without transfer
OKX, the crypto trading platform, said VIP and institutional clients will be able to post BUIDL as collateral held off-exchange with Standard Chartered while continuing to trade on OKX Middle East. BUIDL can also be deposited and traded on-exchange, and used as yield-bearing collateral for margin trading.
The structure brings together BlackRock’s tokenised fund, Standard Chartered’s regulated custody and OKX’s institutional execution and margining infrastructure. OKX described it as the first off-exchange tokenised collateral framework backed by a global systemically important bank.
Samara Cohen, global head of market development at BlackRock, said: “BUIDL was designed to bring the benefits of tokenization to short term treasury exposure, allowing qualified investors to earn US dollar yields on blockchain rails. The framework with OKX and Standard Chartered allows qualified investors to unlock new opportunities in how they deploy collateral.”
A post-trade infrastructure question
The launch moves the discussion around tokenised real-world assets into the mechanics of post-trade infrastructure. In conventional market structures, collateral often has to be moved, pledged or reconciled across separate venues and custodians. This framework is designed to let assets remain with a regulated custodian while still supporting activity on a trading venue.
Richard Baker, CEO and founder of Tokenovate, a financial market infrastructure company focused on tokenised derivatives and post-trade automation, says the significance lay in the way the framework changes collateral mobility.
“The meaningful takeaway is the further step toward a redesign of post-trade infrastructure, where collateral no longer needs to move to be used,” he said. “By holding tokenised Treasuries at a regulated custodian while still deploying them across a trading venue, the emphasis shifts to synchronised, interoperable collateral mobility.”
Baker said the involvement of a global systemically important bank showed tokenisation moving closer to market infrastructure.
“A global systemically important bank like Standard Chartered adopting this model signals another instance of tokenisation’s transition into the heart of core market infrastructure, elevating it from innovation to something structurally transformative,” he added.
The custody role
Standard Chartered’s role is central to the structure because the framework depends on a separation between custody and execution. Assets are held with the bank while OKX clients continue trading through the exchange.
Margaret Harwood-Jones, global head of financing and securities services at Standard Chartered, said the bank’s role as custodian reflected demand for trusted infrastructure as digital assets become more connected with institutional markets.
“By providing secure custody of BUIDL for this collateral use case, we are helping to ensure clients can access digital asset opportunities with the high standards of protection and compliance,” she said. “This framework demonstrates how traditional financial institutions and digital market infrastructure can work together to bring tokenized assets safely and efficiently to global investors.”
The involvement of a bank custodian also reflects how digital asset market structure has changed since earlier phases of crypto trading. Institutional clients are looking for models that combine trading access with stronger asset segregation, custody standards and counterparty protections.
Making margin productive
OKX has framed the framework around capital efficiency. In a blog on the launch, the company said institutions have historically had to choose between keeping capital in high-quality liquid assets and deploying it actively in trading markets.
The new arrangement is designed to allow BUIDL to operate in both roles. The fund can continue generating yield while also supporting trading activity as collateral.
Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX, said the collaboration showed how tokenised real-world assets could be used inside digital markets.
“By enabling institutions to deploy BUIDL as on-chain collateral on OKX’s global platform, we improve capital efficiency while demonstrating how traditional financial instruments can operate seamlessly in digital markets,” he said. “Tokenization is about making existing markets faster, more transparent, and more accessible.”
For institutional trading firms, the model addresses a practical balance-sheet issue. Collateral posted for trading is often operationally necessary but economically inefficient if it sits idle. Tokenised Treasury funds offer a way to keep collateral linked to short-term government debt exposure while making it available for margin.
The standards problem
The framework also raises a wider question for tokenised collateral markets. If similar models are developed by different exchanges, custodians, asset managers and blockchain networks, scale will depend on how consistently those structures can connect.
Baker said coordination across platforms would determine whether tokenised collateral can support broader market adoption.
“As more institutions adopt similar frameworks, the challenge becomes how these models coordinate across separate platforms and venues,” he said. “Interoperability and common standards become prerequisites for genuine scale, ensuring workflows remain consistent and preventing fragmentation as new ecosystems emerge and evolve.”
That issue is becoming more important as tokenised Treasury products gain institutional attention. Short-duration government debt is one of the more straightforward real-world assets to bring on-chain: it is familiar, liquid and already widely used in collateral and liquidity management. The operating layer around it is more complex, covering eligibility, custody, margin treatment, settlement finality, reporting and legal enforceability.
From fund product to market plumbing
The OKX, BlackRock and Standard Chartered framework shows tokenised funds moving further into the operational details of trading, margining and liquidity management.
For BlackRock, BUIDL gains another institutional use case. For Standard Chartered, custody becomes the link between traditional market safeguards and digital asset trading. For OKX, tokenised US Treasury exposure becomes part of its collateral proposition for institutional clients.
The broader test is whether these structures can work across venues and custodians, rather than only inside individual frameworks. Tokenised collateral will need common standards, interoperable workflows and trusted custody arrangements if it is to become part of institutional market infrastructure at scale.