After almost breaking the $8.0 trillion barrier last week, the Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets plunging $59.9 billion to $7.893 trillion. Assets increased $5.2 billion to a record $7.953 trillion the previous week (and increased $47.7 billion the week before this). MMF assets are up by $828 billion, or 11.7%, over the past 52 weeks (through 7/15/26), with Institutional MMFs up $659 billion, or 15.9% and Retail MMFs up $169 billion, or 5.8%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $160 billion, or 2.1%, with Institutional MMFs up $153 billion, or 3.3% and Retail MMFs up $7 billion, or 0.2%.
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $59.90 billion to $7.89 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, July 15, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, decreased by $52.62 billion and prime funds decreased by $4.90 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $2.38 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $52.4 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $7.5 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.511 trillion (82.5% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.236 trillion (15.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $145.9 billion (1.8%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $7.50 billion to $3.08 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $5.52 billion to $1.96 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $607 million to $988.44 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.38 billion to $134.08 billion." Retail assets account for 39.1% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.6% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $52.39 billion to $4.81 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $47.10 billion to $4.55 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $4.29 billion to $247.98 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.00 billion to $11.76 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.9% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have decreased by $43.3 billion to $8.307 trillion month-to-date in July (as of 7/15), assets reached an all-time high of $8.404 trillion on July 6. Assets increased $58.6 billion in June, $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion last July. Note that `ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
In related news, ICI also recently published "Tokenization: An Asset Management Perspective," which tells us, "Technological innovation has contributed tremendously to economic progress and prosperity.... Beyond technological innovation, asset managers have long pursued product innovation to broaden investor access to capital markets and to help investors achieve their financial objectives -- from the first mutual fund in 1924, to money market funds in the early 1970s, to the emergence of exchange-traded funds (ETFs)."
The paper says, "In recent years, one technological innovation that has drawn considerable attention in capital markets is blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology.... A particular use case for blockchain -- the tokenization of securities -- has gained considerable momentum as part of broader efforts to tokenize so-called 'real‑world assets' and has demonstrated the potential to deliver material real-world benefits at scale. But in general, tokenization of real-world assets refers to the digital representation of interests in existing assets (e.g., mutual fund shares, ETFs, stocks, ... etc.) that takes the form of a 'token' (a type of digital asset) issued, held, transferred, and recorded on a blockchain -- effectively bringing those real-world assets 'onchain.'"
It explains, "Unlike traditional mutual fund share trades, which typically settle on a T+1 basis, or ETFs, which primarily trade only during normal exchange hours, tokenized fund shares technologically enable near-instant 24/7 trading. Tokenized money market fund shares already are capable of trading on a 24/7 peer-to-peer basis, and one asset manager has received exemptive relief from the SEC to facilitate secondary-market transactions of its tokenized government money market fund at a fixed $1.00 per share (plus or minus dealer compensation). This relief also permits investors to settle transactions in fund shares from dealers using stablecoins rather than US dollars, potentially allowing investors to move more efficiently between crypto and traditional securities markets."
ICI writes, "The near-instant settlement of a tokenized fund's shares may also spur other product design innovations. For example, one asset manager has introduced an 'intraday yield' feature on its tokenization platform that allows for calculation and distribution of yield 'down to the second.' This feature allows for yield to effectively follow a share, so that each person who holds the share throughout the trading day receives their ratable portion of the fund’s daily yield. Other market participants have similarly explored or made available mechanisms for continuous interest or yield accrual associated with tokenized fund interests and blockchain-based recordkeeping systems. Features such as this may make certain funds economically more attractive to certain investors."
They state, "Tokenized money market funds and similar short-duration products may also serve as reserve management and treasury management tools within blockchain-based payment ecosystems. In particular, tokenized registered government money market funds may provide yield-bearing reserve assets for stablecoin issuers, digital asset platforms, and businesses operating primarily onchain, allowing such entities to maintain exposure to high‑quality liquid assets providing yield in a highly regulated environment while preserving operational connectivity to blockchain‑based payment and settlement systems."
ICI tells us, "Tokenization would also facilitate fractionalization of fund shares and could lead to lower investment thresholds. Lowering barriers to entry for investments in a fund may help such funds reach new investor bases, including 'onchain natives' and younger investors. For example, some tokenized money market funds have minimum investments as low as $20."
They add, "In addition, by acting as a bridge with traditional asset management, tokenized funds have the opportunity to reach onchain and 'crypto-native' investors. The global cryptocurrency market is estimated to be in the trillions. Tokenized funds can meet demand from existing digital asset owners for diversified onchain offerings, including yield-bearing investments such as money market funds -- not to mention those who may gravitate toward tokenized securities in the future."
