Federated Hermes Plans Onchain Fund Shares With Prometheum

Federated Hermes, the Pittsburgh-based asset manager overseeing $911 billion, is teaming up with Prometheum to bring blockchain-based share classes of its funds to traditional brokerage accounts. The plan would put onchain fund shares within a familiar investing channel, rather than requiring investors to use a crypto exchange or manage a separate crypto wallet.

The available announcement does not identify the funds involved, provide a launch date, or explain how the new share classes would differ in fees, trading hours, or investor rights from existing shares.

What would onchain fund shares change?

Tokenization represents an asset, or ownership interest in it, as a digital token recorded on a blockchain. Here, the proposed tokens would represent shares in Federated Hermes funds. The stated route through traditional brokerage accounts is significant: the plan is not simply about putting funds on a blockchain, but connecting that format to the existing investment system.

For everyday investors, access through a brokerage could avoid the need to learn how to hold crypto tokens directly. But tokenized shares are still investment products, and the announcement does not establish that they would be available to all brokerage customers or have different protections from conventional fund shares.

How does this fit Wall Street’s tokenization push?

Federated Hermes’ plan is another step in a broader effort to put traditional financial assets on blockchains. Recent moves covered by CryptoCatalyst include DTCC’s work on tokenizing securities with Stellar and ICE’s partnership with OKX on tokenized securities. Those initiatives concern securities more broadly; Federated Hermes’ proposal focuses on fund share classes and brokerage access.

Separately, Morgan Stanley is building infrastructure to support tokenized equities and expects to support them in the first quarter of 2027, according to a report by The Block. That is a different product effort, but together the developments show large financial firms preparing for blockchain-based assets to fit into established financial channels—not just crypto-native platforms.

The practical next details to watch are which Federated Hermes funds are selected, when the offering becomes available, and how Prometheum and participating brokerages handle custody and transfers. Until those points are announced, the plan signals a direction for access, not a change investors can act on today.