Franklin Templeton has launched a tokenized US greenback cash market fund for skilled traders in Hong Kong, increasing its crypto choices in Asia.
In keeping with an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday, the Franklin OnChain US Authorities Cash Fund is the primary end-to-end tokenized construction by an asset supervisor to combine issuance, distribution and servicing instantly onchain in Hong Kong.
The tokenized fund will initially be out there solely to institutional {and professional} traders. It’s registered in Luxembourg beneath a regulated framework that enables funding funds to be offered throughout the European Union.
The fund makes use of Franklin Templeton’s proprietary blockchain recordkeeping system, whereas in search of to supply earnings and protect capital by way of investments in short-term US authorities treasuries.
Whereas entry stays restricted at launch, Tariq Ahmad, Franklin Templeton’s head of Asia-Pacific, stated it plans to supply “a retail-approved tokenized fund, topic to SFC approval.”
Brian Chen, head of OSL Wealth Administration, which is supporting the launch as a regulated distribution associate, stated “Hong Kong is turning into an institutionally trusted hub for digital property.”
The transfer from Franklin Templeton, one of many world’s largest asset managers, follows China Asset Administration (Hong Kong)’s launch of its first tokenized productthe ChinaAMC HKD Digital Cash Market Fund, introduced in February.
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Hong Kong advances asset tokenization
Not like mainland China, Hong Kong operates beneath an outlined regulatory framework for digital property. This has enabled the town to emerge as a regional middle for crypto innovation and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization initiatives.
In August, the Hong Kong Financial Authority unveiled the Venture Ensemble sandbox to discover how real-world property may be tokenized and settled between banks by way of a wholesale central financial institution digital foreign money.
The mission builds on earlier initiatives, together with the event of wCBDC, a wholesale central financial institution digital foreign money launched in March 2024 to help asset tokenization.
In September, UBS, Chainlink and DigiFT launched a pilot in Hong Kong to check automated fund tokenization utilizing blockchain infrastructure for on-chain settlement and lifecycle administration.
In November, the HKMA outlined its RWA tokenization plans beneath its five-year Fintech 2030 technique, which incorporates plans to problem tokenized authorities bonds and discover tokenized Trade Fund papers alongside the rollout of its e-HKD stablecoin.
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