Brevan Howard-Backed Tokenization Firm Libre Arrives on NEAR Blockchain

Libre, a startup focused on tokenizing financial assets in partnership with Nomura’s Laser Digital, Brevan Howard’s WebN group and private markets giant Hamilton Lane, is adding several digitized funds to the NEAR blockchain, enabling tokenized real-world assets (RWA) to be transferred across multiple blockchains.

Users of the NEAR protocol will have access to a Hamilton Lane credit fund, the Brevan Howard Master Fund and Blackrock ICS Money Market Fund, Libre said Monday. The startup has also crossed the $100 million assets under management milestone since going live four months ago.

The creation of blockchain-based versions of financial assets has become popular among institutional firms with an eye on the crypto space. Adding RWA funds to NEAR is a key component to Libre’s multichain ambitions, thanks to that blockchain’s “Chain Signatures” feature, which allows users to transact on other ledgers without the need for cross-chain bridges.

“Chain Signatures is a tool that allows you to purchase assets on NEAR, and then transfer them and manage them on any other blockchain,” said Libre CEO Avtar Sehra in an interview.

Toward the end of the year, Libre is looking to introduce features like collateralized lending and secondary transfer of some assets, Sehra said.

“We’re also launching a new fund with the Laser Digital team, and that’s a market neutral fund across all the networks at the same time, which will be live in October this year,” he said.