Something significant is happening in the world of fund structures.
Quietly. Quickly. And with implications across boards.
Tokenised funds are no longer a concept - they are here.
Twelve tokenised funds registered in the Cayman Islands alone since March 2026. Fidelity International among them.
In the UK, Baillie Gifford, the 118-year-old Edinburgh institution managing approximately £286 billion in assets launched the UK's first fully native tokenised fund in June 2026. The Enhanced Yield Fund operates entirely on blockchain infrastructure, FCA-regulated, with BNY providing the tokenisation and wallet infrastructure. The blockchain is not a secondary record-keeping layer. It is the legal register of record.
When names of that scale and standing move, the industry follows.
Assets under management in tokenised funds globally already exceeding $33 billion. Projected to reach $600 billion by 2030. And every major fund jurisdiction in the world is moving to accommodate them.
A tokenised fund is simply an investment fund where ownership interests, traditionally represented by paper shares or limited partnership interests, are instead represented as digital tokens on a blockchain.
The mechanics change. Settlement that once took days happens in seconds.
Redemptions that required manual processing become automated. The operational architecture of the fund looks fundamentally different.
But the need for experienced, informed directors on these structures does not diminish, it grows.
Tokenised funds still require boards. They still require governance. They still require directors who understand their obligations, ask the right questions and provide the independent oversight.
The technology changes the infrastructure. It does not change the responsibility. And it does not change the value that directors bring to the table.
Across the fund industry, one pattern has remained consistent through every structural shift, every regulatory change, every new jurisdiction and every new vehicle type.
Directors adapt. They always have.
When regulators introduce new frameworks, directors learn them. When investors demand higher standards, directors rise to meet them. When managers require more sophisticated oversight, directors develop the knowledge to provide it.
Knowledge grows with every new structure, every new regulatory framework, every new challenge the role presents. That part of what makes the role genuinely rewarding.
Tokenised funds are simply the next evolution. And jurisdictions are already moving, at pace and in concert.
In the Cayman Islands, coordinated amendments to the Mutual Funds Act, the Private Funds Act and the Virtual Asset legislation created a clear, workable framework for tokenised structures from March 2026, removing the dual-licensing risk that had previously slowed institutional decisions.
In Luxembourg, the CSSF confirmed in early 2026 that UCITS funds can accept MiCAR-regulated e-money tokens for subscriptions and redemptions. Four successive Blockchain Laws have established full legal equivalence between DLT-based registries and traditional fund registries. The Luxembourg RAIF and SIF structures are now the vehicle of choice for many tokenised fund managers across Europe.
In Guernsey, the GFSC launched its Digital Finance Initiative and accompanying consultation in late 2025, actively engaging with industry to shape a framework that supports tokenisation on both public and private blockchains. The GFSC's Innovation Sandbox and Concierge service provides a structured pathway for managers looking to launch tokenised products under tailored regulatory conditions. Guernsey also implemented the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework from 1 January 2026.
In Jersey, the JFSC has taken a deliberately pragmatic approach, incorporating digital assets within the existing regulatory framework rather than creating separate legislation. Tokenisation is now one of five strategic imperatives in the Government of Jersey's Time to Win action plan, published in March 2026.
In the United Kingdom, the FCA published Policy Statement PS26/7 in April 2026, its most significant statement on fund tokenisation to date. The rules, which entered into force immediately, provide a clear operational framework for tokenised authorised funds within the existing regulatory perimeter. The FCA and the Bank of England followed with a joint call for input on the future of tokenisation across UK wholesale financial markets, a roadmap that signals the direction of travel for years to come. The Baillie Gifford Enhanced Yield Fund, launched weeks later, was the first public demonstration of what that framework makes possible.
In the United States, the legislative picture is moving fast. The GENIUS Act, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, was signed into law in July 2025, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. Passed with strong bipartisan support, it is the most significant US law affecting digital assets to date and sends a clear signal globally that stablecoins and tokenised structures are legitimate, regulated financial products. The CLARITY Act, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, is working its way through the Senate, having passed the House with the strongest congressional endorsement of digital asset legislation in US history. Its passage would establish a comprehensive federal market structure for digital assets and analysts across Washington and Wall Street consider it the next major catalyst for the industry.
The direction of travel is consistent. Every major financial centre in the world, and beyond those listed here, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE are moving in the same direction, is building the regulatory architecture to support tokenised fund structures.
This is no longer an experiment. It is the next chapter of institutional finance.
For directors, this creates a familiar challenge in genuinely new territory. How do you govern a structure whose technology is still evolving? How do you maintain effective oversight when the regulatory framework that governs it is still taking shape? How do you evidence good governance on a board where the agenda items themselves are new ground?
The answer, as it has always been, begins with preparation.
Understanding the specific structure you are governing. Understanding the regulatory framework that applies in your jurisdiction. Understanding what questions to ask and having the resources to find the answers independently.
The directors who will govern tokenised fund structures most effectively will not necessarily be the ones who understand the technology. They will be the ones who understand their obligations. Who stay informed as the landscape evolves and who arrive at every board meeting prepared.
What is changing is the volume and complexity of information directors need to stay on top of. And that is precisely where the right tools make the difference.
MyDirector-OS was built for exactly this kind of environment.
A private, encrypted workspace where board papers, meeting records, compliance obligations and appointment details are held securely, accessible only to you. No shared drives. No email attachments. No unsecured portals. Every document stored in an encrypted vault, visible to nobody but the director it belongs to.
BoardLens, our AI board document review tool, was designed with the same standard of security in mind. Documents are extracted within your own browser before any review begins. They are transmitted over encrypted channels. The AI model that reviews them is stateless, meaning it does not retain, store, learn from or share the content of any document it processes.
No trace. No training data. No residual exposure. BoardLens surfaces risks, flags governance gaps and identifies the decisions that require your attention, all before you walk into the room.
Jurisdiction-aware, so the regulatory framework it applies reflects the specific structure you are governing.
The analysis is yours. The judgement is yours. The data never leaves your control.
The next wave is already forming. The directors who are ready for it will be the ones who invested in their preparation before it arrived.