The March issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "More Tokenized MMFs But Stablecoin Growth Stalling," which discusses a new tokenized MMF entrant and stablecoin balances; "State Street Prime, ProShares Money Market ETFs Go Live," which reviews the latest launches of money market ETFs; and "Federated's Cunningham on Money Funds' New Normal," which looks at the continued strength in money fund assets. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 2/28/26 data. Our March Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, March 10, and our March Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, March 13. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, Crane Data's ultra-short bond fund conference. BFS will take place in just 2 weeks -- March 19-20 in Boston!)
MFI's "Tokenized MMFs" story says, "While the buzz around tokenized money market funds continues to grow, stablecoin balances have begun declining for the first time ever. On the tokenized MMF side, a press release titled, 'Northern Trust Asset Management Enters Digital Assets Market with Launch of Tokenized Money Market Share Class' tells us, 'Northern Trust Asset Management ... launched a tokenized share class for its NIF Treasury Instruments Portfolio. Marking the firm's entry into the digital assets market, the tokenized share class represents a digital mirror record of the fund's institutional share class using blockchain technology.' It explains, 'This offering will initially be available to clients on BNY's market leading LiquidityDirect platform, which utilizes Goldman Sachs Digital Asset Platform.'"
The story continues, "Paula Kar, Northern Trust Asset Management's Chief Product Officer, comments, 'This launch reflects Northern Trust Asset Management's commitment to delivering secure, efficient, and innovative liquidity solutions for institutional investors. Tokenization delivers meaningful advantages, including improved settlement efficiency and enhanced visibility. Money market funds are on the leading edge of digital innovation, and we are excited to advance our product suite in this evolving space.'"
We write in the "Money Market ETFs," story, "A press release, 'State Street Investment Management Unveils New Actively Managed Prime Money Market ETF,' tells us, 'State Street Investment Management ... announced the launch of the State Street Prime Money Market ETF (MMK), an actively managed ETF designed to meet the cash management needs of investors seeking the convenience, transparency and trading flexibility of ETFs.'"
It quotes Anna Paglia, Chief Business Officer for State Street Investment Management, "For decades, State Street Investment Management has delivered cash solutions to many of the world's most sophisticated institutional investors. With the launch of MMK, that same expertise becomes accessible to all investors looking for ways to manage their cash with an emphasis on income, liquidity and flexibility.'"
Our third article says, "Federated Hermes' latest monthly insight asks, 'Has the floor been raised for the money markets?' Money Market CIO Deborah Cunningham writes, 'There are essentially two ways an extraordinary development can play out: reverting to the mean or creating a new status quo. In finance, the latter is rare, but we believe 2026 is shaping up to be just that for the money markets.'"
It continues, "She explains, 'Many would agree that the collective performance of stable value products since mid-2022 has indeed been extraordinary, riding on the back of Federal Reserve rate hikes, and rising to their highest level in decades. The high watermark for yields came the following year, with the target fed funds range reaching 5.25-5.50% and the Crane 100 Money Fund Index touching 5.20%. Funds poured into money market funds, pushing assets under management (AUM) to record highs.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Bloomberg on Record MMF Assets." It says, "They write, 'Money Fund Assets Rise to Record $8.27 Trillion in Dash for Cash.' The piece explains, 'Investors are rushing into US money-market funds, lifting total assets to a record $8.271 trillion, as the war in Iran fuels a broad flight to safety. Some $49 billion flowed into money-market funds in the week ending March 3, according to the latest figures from Crane Data.'"
Another News brief, "Reuters: 'Wall Street Regulator Allows Intraday Trading of Tokenized WisdomTree Money Market Fund.' They comment, 'The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ... said it had granted a special request from the asset manager WisdomTree to allow intraday trading in tokenized shares of a money market fund, adding that this could speed settlement times and ease access for retail investors.'"
A third News brief, "SSIM's latest 'Monthly Cash Review' is titled, 'A Hawk at the Door.' The piece states, 'From a markets perspective, January, as usual, 'came in hot.' Flows were positive and the maturity schedule is heavy, pushing technicals tighter. Spreads have rallied across fixed and float, with fixed looking a bit too proud of itself at 3-4 bps tighter. There's not much value in extending out the curve unless you enjoy chasing things that don't want to be caught. Most investors are holding back, waiting for February to offer better levels, while fund durations naturally roll down as everyone resists the urge to buy at today's highs.... There's still plenty of cash sloshing around. It's a seller's market, plain and simple.'"
A sidebar, "iShares Short Bond ETFs," says, "ETF Trends writes that 'iShares Moves Short-Term Bond ETFs to the Big Board.' The article comments, 'As the hunt for yield and stability remains a cornerstone of portfolios in 2026, a group of iShares short-term bond ETFs have made a strategic move to the Big Board.... Four prominent short-term fixed-income vehicles have officially transitioned their primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The move involves the $75 billion iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), the $20 billion iShares 0-1 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHV), the $470 million iShares Prime Money Market ETF (PMMF), and the $95 million iShares Government Money Market ETF (GMMF).'"
Our March MFI XLS, with February 28 data, shows total assets rose $94.0 billion to a record high $8.249 trillion, after increasing $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $10.1 billion in June and jumping $90.3 billion in May. MMFs decreased $26.6 billion in April and $4.6 billion last March.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp at 3.39%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was unchanged at 3.50% in February. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.76% and 3.76%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 2/28/26 on Monday, 3/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 40 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was unchanged from the previous month at 42 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
