Apollo Global Management expects tokenisation to play a bigger role in making its funds more accessible, especially to the new generation of crypto-native investors, as the US alternative asset manager edges closer to reaching $1 trillion of assets.
New York-headquartered Apollo, which booked $908 billion in total assets under management (AUM) as of September 30, including almost 80% in credit strategies, is poised to tokenise a wider portion of its fund pool over the coming years after early success in its debut tokenised private credit vehicle.
The vehicle, formally named Securitize Tokenized Apollo Diversified Credit Fund (ACRED), has attracted about $170 million since its official launch in January under a partnership with Securitize Inc, making it potentially the world’s largest tokenised private credit fund to date, said partner Earl Hunt, who serves as chairman and CEO of Apollo Debt Solutions, during a panel discussion at the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025.
Issued and recorded on blockchain infrastructure, where eligible investors can hold it in digital wallets, ACRED offers access to the firm’s traditional Apollo Diversified Credit Fund, which lends to mid-sized US companies. The tokenised fund requires a $50,000 minimum investment and charges a management fee of 2%.
“We were probably in experimentation about 12-18 months ago. But I would say, over the last three to six months, we’ve created significant momentum,” said Hunt.
Although tokenisation is still in its early innings, Hunt envisioned a future where tokenisation could be for “a variety of alternative asset classes, whether that be real estate, infrastructure, or certainly some of our multi assets.”
“I could see a world in which all our funds are tokenised,” said Hunt. “I think the opportunity set is really for a variety of alternatives to move to a tokenised marketplace.”
Apollo is poised to tokenise a wider portion of its fund pool over the coming years after early success with its debut tokenised private credit vehicle.
The launch of ACRED marks the first time that investors can access Apollo’s credit fund through an on-chain product, as the firm joins a growing lineup of investment powerhouses such as BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, Franklin Templeton, and KKR in providing tokenised assets.
Tokenisation refers to the process of turning tangible or traditional real-world assets (RWAs) that exist outside the digital realm—bank deposits, stocks, bonds, funds, and real estate—into crypto assets.
This means creating a record on digital ledger blockchain that represents the original asset. These blockchain-based assets, or tokens, can be split into smaller, digitally tradable units, held in crypto wallets, and traded on blockchain, just like cryptocurrencies, making it potentially more efficient and easier to buy and sell them.
While tokenisation started with more institutional interest, Hunt highlighted its growing traction among individual investors, including private wealth and stablecoin owners, who are increasingly attracted to its many benefits—easier access, enhanced liquidity, dynamic reporting, and fractional ownership, which could collectively contribute to a seamless investment experience.
“We’re at a point of convergence between what I would call ‘digital-native’ investors and traditional investors coming together at this intersection [of the digital realm and real-world financial assets],” said Hunt.
Apollo in April launched its New Markets division, led by the 17-year Apollo veteran Neil Mehta, to consolidate its digital markets, along with another three business lines, including traditional asset management, defined contribution, and tax-advantaged solutions, to woo the largely untapped pool of private wealth for alternative asset investments by leveraging its tokenised fund, among other offerings.
For tokenisation to reach its fullest potential, Christine Moy, an Apollo partner who leads the firm’s digital assets, data & AI strategy, believes that it will take a lot of time, as well as operational, engineering, and management behavioural changes for legacy systems within traditional banks and asset managers to be “interoperable” or “integrated” with this new technology.
“What is really exciting,” said Moy, “is that we don’t necessarily have to wait for all that to happen”.
“There is certainly a next generation of investors who want to be on-chain. They want to use their crypto wallets. Their first investment was probably Bitcoin or probably some on-chain investment,” she said during a separate panel discussion at the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025.
“I think there will be a parallel path of developing products for essentially on chain-native investors who are digital first, and probably AI first as well. And then, there’ll be another path of how you get everybody who is already invested through existing systems onboarded,” said Moy.
But for Apollo, the future is clear. The promise of a more tokenised fund world is expected to help it capture a larger share of private wealth capital to invest in alternative assets.
“Tokenisation is going to enable us to move faster in the direction we were already headed,” said Hunt. “Wealth is such an integral part of the forward vision of a lot of alternative managers. Certainly, it’s a top priority for us at Apollo.”
Tokenisation and the framework of being able to grant access to illiquid assets and to provide institutional quality investments to the wealth segment represent “a watershed moment,” said Hunt. “And certainly, you’re going to see that being fully integrated into our business model.”
