Schroders Brings Emerging-Markets Bond Strategy to Solana

Schroders has brought tokenized exposure to an emerging-markets bond strategy to Solana, extending the network’s fund offerings beyond cash-like products. On Nov. 4, Centrifuge said it launched the Schroder International Selection Fund Emerging Market Bond strategy on the network, in its announcement. Centrifuge says this is Schroders’ first deployment on Solana. Schroders has invested in emerging-markets debt for more than 50 years and has more than 40 professionals dedicated to the asset class, according to the announcement.

The product uses tokens to represent shares in a feeder fund, rather than direct ownership of Schroders’ underlying bond fund. CoinDesk reported that the feeder invests in Schroders’ Emerging Market Bond Fund and that its share values track the fund’s net asset value. The strategy invests in debt issued by governments and companies across emerging economies, exposing investors to those markets and currencies, CoinDesk reported.

What do investors hold through the Solana launch?

Investors hold tokenized shares in the feeder fund, not shares directly in Schroders’ underlying fund, according to CoinDesk. The arrangement connects a fund investment managed by Schroders with tokenization infrastructure from Centrifuge and the Solana network. Schroders’ Marita McGinley, head of operations for APAC and digital assets, said in Centrifuge’s announcement that the firm is tokenizing this specific strategy and issuing it on Solana. The announcement does not state the offering’s size or spell out investor eligibility, minimum investments, fees or redemption terms.

The investment exposure comes from the underlying bond strategy; the token is the onchain form of the feeder’s shares. Schroders says the strategy spans sovereign, corporate and local-currency debt. That mix means its performance is tied to borrowers and markets in emerging economies, rather than to a cash balance alone. The launch makes this strategy available through a blockchain network, but the announcements do not establish that access is unrestricted or that investors can trade or redeem shares at any time.

How does this differ from earlier onchain fixed income?

Earlier onchain fixed-income products were concentrated in cash and short-duration government securities, according to Centrifuge’s Anil Sood. CoinDesk reported that tokenized U.S. Treasuries and money-market funds made up $14 billion of a $39 billion tokenized real-world asset market it tracked. Emerging-markets debt brings a different set of risks, including borrower creditworthiness, currency movements and economic conditions across developing countries, CoinDesk reported. It is therefore a change in the type of investment exposure represented onchain, not simply another tokenized cash product.

The Solana launch is also one step in Schroders’ broader tokenization work, rather than the firm’s first tokenized investment. CoinDesk reported that Schroders received approval in Ireland in August for a tokenized share class of a U.S. dollar money-market fund called Schroders Onchain Active Returns. The emerging-markets strategy is its first deployment on Solana, according to Centrifuge. Neither announcement says how much money has entered the new feeder fund.

Source material

• its announcement — centrifuge.io
• CoinDesk reported — coindesk.com