Federated Hermes Plans Blockchain-Based Fund Shares Through Prometheum Partnership

Federated Hermes is preparing to bring some of its investment funds onto blockchain rails, adding a major traditional asset manager to the growing push to represent financial products onchain. The Pittsburgh-based firm, which manages $911 billion in assets, is partnering with Prometheum on the initiative.

The plan centers on blockchain-based share classes for Federated Hermes funds. Rather than creating a separate crypto-native product, the arrangement is intended to connect these digital representations of fund shares with traditional brokerage accounts.

A bridge between fund products and blockchain infrastructure

Fund shares are interests in an investment vehicle. Under the proposed structure, blockchain technology would be used to record a digital version of those interests. The summary does not specify which Federated Hermes funds will participate, when the share classes will launch, or which blockchain infrastructure will support them.

The brokerage-account component is central to the announcement. It suggests the project is aimed at fitting tokenized fund interests into an existing investment environment, rather than requiring investors to use a separate crypto wallet or an entirely new trading venue. The details of how investors would access, transfer or settle the blockchain-based shares were not provided.

Why the move matters

For markets, the partnership illustrates how tokenization is moving beyond purely digital assets and toward conventional investment products. A fund share represented on a blockchain could, in principle, use digital records as part of its ownership and settlement process. In this case, however, the available information establishes the planned partnership and product direction, not the operational or regulatory details of the offering.

Federated Hermes’ involvement gives the project significance because of the scale of the asset manager. Prometheum’s role is to work with the firm on bringing the blockchain-based share classes to brokerage accounts. Further information will be needed to assess the funds involved, investor eligibility and how the structure will operate in practice.

Source: Coindesk