Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund Hits Solana With $250M Ethena Backing

A major corner of traditional finance just moved further onchain. Securitize has expanded its tokenized AAA CLO fund, known as STAC, to the Solana blockchain, and the announcement carries serious institutional weight. Ethena Labs plans to commit $250 million to the fund, making it one of the largest allocations to tokenized structured credit in the Solana ecosystem to date.

The deal brings together two very different worlds: the slow-moving, multi-trillion-dollar credit market and the high-speed programmability of public blockchain rails. Just as importantly, the Securitize tokenized AAA CLO fund Solana expansion signals how institutional finance is starting to use blockchain infrastructure for regulated credit products, rather than only for speculative assets.

In practice, that matters because STAC is not a crypto-native experiment dressed up as finance. It is a high-grade credit fund, backed by institutional partners, now available through one of the most active blockchain ecosystems in the world.

Securitize tokenized AAA CLO fund Solana expansion brings structured credit onchain

What STAC invests in

STAC — the Securitize Tokenised AAA CLO Fund — is a tokenized investment vehicle dedicated exclusively to AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations. These are among the most creditworthy instruments in the structured credit market, which globally exceeds $1.3 trillion in issuance according to Bank of America Global Research data.

The fund invests substantially all of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated AAA CLO tranches sourced from both primary and secondary markets. Its strategy is fundamentals-driven and aims for attractive risk-adjusted returns through floating-rate structured credit exposure, and it does so without leverage.

That conservative, high-grade approach is part of what makes the move to Solana notable. This is not a speculative crypto product. Instead, it is traditional institutional credit, now accessible through blockchain rails.

Why BNY’s role matters

STAC was developed in collaboration with BNY, the financial services giant that serves as custodian for the fund’s underlying assets and sub-adviser through BNY Investments. That relationship keeps the fund anchored in conventional regulatory and custody frameworks, even as its shares exist as digital securities on a public blockchain.

Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder and CEO of Securitize, framed the opportunity directly: “Tokenization is most powerful when it combines quality assets with the speed, efficiency and accessibility of blockchain infrastructure. Expanding STAC to Solana brings one of the largest fixed-income markets in the world onto one of the most active blockchain ecosystems.”

Securitize itself manages over $4 billion in assets under management as of April 2026. Its tokenized fund partnerships span Apollo, BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck, among others, which helps explain why STAC sits within a broader institutional product suite that has steadily grown in scale and credibility.

Ethena Labs’ $250 million allocation adds institutional weight

The $250 million commitment from Ethena Labs carries weight beyond its size. Ethena is the creator of USDe, which has become the fastest-growing USD-denominated crypto asset in history, and USDtb, with integrations across major centralized exchanges and DeFi applications. The firm is backed by Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Dragonfly, Binance Labs, Bybit, and OKX.

Guy Young, Founder of Ethena, explained the rationale: “Our planned allocation to STAC reflects our conviction that institutional-grade credit products can become foundational components of the onchain economy.”

That framing matters because Ethena’s interest in STAC is not just a one-off trade. Rather, it reflects a broader thesis that tokenized real-world assets will become structural pillars of onchain finance, not peripheral experiments. When a firm with Ethena’s backer list puts $250 million behind that thesis, the market tends to pay attention.

Regulated digital securities infrastructure gives STAC a wider reach

One of the less-discussed but strategically important parts of this expansion is Securitize’s regulatory positioning. The company operates regulated entities on both sides of the Atlantic, giving it a rare dual-jurisdiction footprint in digital securities infrastructure.

In the United States, Securitize operates through several affiliates:

• Securitize Markets, LLC — an SEC-registered broker-dealer running an SEC-regulated Alternative Trading System
• Securitize Transfer Agent, LLC — an SEC-registered transfer agent
• Securitize Capital LLC — an Exempt Reporting Adviser
• Securitize Fund Services, LLC — handling fund administration and digital asset reporting

In Europe, the firm operates through Securitize Europe Brokerage and Markets, S.A., fully authorized as an Investment Firm and running a Trading & Settlement System under the EU DLT Pilot Regime. Securitize is currently the only company licensed to operate regulated digital-securities infrastructure across both the U.S. and EU simultaneously, a distinction that is increasingly relevant as institutional capital seeks compliant onchain pathways.

Eligible investors can subscribe to STAC directly through Securitize’s platform, with shares issued as digital securities. The platform integrates KYC, AML, and investor accreditation checks alongside transparent recordkeeping and onchain ownership through its transfer agent infrastructure.

Why Solana makes sense for institutional onchain finance

Choosing Solana for this expansion was not arbitrary. The network’s speed, transaction throughput, and low costs make it well-suited for the operational demands of institutional credit markets, where settlement efficiency and distribution scale matter.

Nick Ducoff, Head of Institutional Growth at Solana Foundation, described the momentum: “The launch of STAC on Solana highlights the growing convergence between traditional financial assets and blockchain-based markets.”

That convergence is the core story here. Tokenization reduces the operational friction that has historically made institutional credit investing cumbersome, including slow settlement cycles, manual reconciliation, and limited distribution reach. By moving CLO exposure onchain, STAC opens the door to more efficient distribution and ownership tracking, without abandoning the credit quality and custody standards that institutional investors require.

For Solana, landing STAC is also a statement. The network has increasingly positioned itself as infrastructure for real-world asset tokenization, and an institutional credit product backed by BNY, built by Securitize, and anchored by a $250 million Ethena Labs allocation is a meaningful proof point for that ambition.

The broader picture is hard to ignore. With the global CLO market at $1.3 trillion and tokenization still in its early innings, the gap between what exists onchain today and what could eventually migrate there remains enormous. Products like STAC are part of the early infrastructure layer: regulated, credible, and built with the kind of partners that give institutional allocators the confidence to engage.

FAQ

What is the Securitize Tokenised AAA CLO Fund (STAC)?

STAC is a tokenized investment fund that invests primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligation tranches from both primary and secondary markets. It issues shares as digital securities through Securitize’s regulated platform, with BNY serving as custodian and sub-adviser through BNY Investments.

Why was Solana chosen for the STAC fund expansion?

Solana was selected for its high transaction speed, strong throughput capacity, and low transaction costs. Those features make it well-suited for institutional onchain finance, where settlement efficiency and scalability are priorities.

Who are the key partners involved in STAC?

The key partners include Securitize as the tokenization and platform provider, BNY as custodian and sub-adviser through BNY Investments, and Ethena Labs as a major institutional allocator committing $250 million to the fund.

What are the investment objectives of the STAC fund?

STAC aims to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns through floating-rate structured credit exposure in AAA CLO tranches, using a fundamentals-driven approach without leverage.