ProShares IQMM Debut Signals Tokenized Money-Market Growth

ProShares’ record-breaking debut of its money market ETF last week underscored demand for cash-management products as the asset class increasingly is tokenized. The actively managed ProShares Genius Money Market ETF (IQMM), which primarily holds short-duration government securities, generated $17 billion in first-day trading volume on Thursday — an unprecedented figure for a newly launched ETF.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas documented the surge, noting IQMM’s debut dwarfed other high-profile launches: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded roughly $1 billion in first-day volume, while a BlackRock ESG-focused ETF seeded by pension investors saw about $2 billion.

It later emerged that much of IQMM’s activity stemmed from internal allocations, with ProShares shifting cash from its existing funds into IQMM for treasury management purposes. Even if the flows weren’t fully organic, the launch highlights the scale and strategic importance of money market vehicles and their role in modern portfolio construction.

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