Franklin Templeton has partnered with Hong Kong's HashKey Exchange to distribute its tokenized U.S. government money market fund to professional investors in Asia. Separately, the asset manager has secured what it describes as a first-of-its-kind SEC clearance to use the same tokenized fund as a holding inside its traditional ETFs and mutual funds.
Franklin Templeton Expands Tokenized Fund Into Asia
Franklin Templeton has partnered with Hong Kong's HashKey Exchange to widen its tokenization push into Asia. In a Monday statement, HashKey said it has launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund on the platform's Earn channel, a fund that mainly invests in U.S. government money market instruments and U.S. dollar cash assets. Access stays limited to professional investors and is not open to the general public in Hong Kong.
The deal builds on earlier groundwork in the region. In November 2025, Franklin Templeton debuted Hong Kong's first tokenized money-market fund, the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Fintech 2030 plan.
SEC Clears the Fund for Use Inside Traditional Portfolios
Meanwhile, Franklin Templeton also plans to place tokenized assets inside conventional ETFs and mutual funds, using its BENJI fund as a holding or collateral, according to a Bloomberg report cited by Bitcoin.com. The Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the structure through a no-action position, letting Franklin funds use the tokenized product for cash management and collateral purposes. The strategy could begin as early as the fourth quarter, subject to approval from individual fund boards.
Franklin's reach across conventional finance underscores the stakes: the firm oversees more than 130 ETFs globally with about $82 billion in assets, while its mutual funds hold roughly $790 billion. Its tokenized money-market funds, by contrast, manage about $2.6 billion.
Wider Tokenization Push Across Wall Street
Both moves land as the broader real-world asset tokenization market keeps growing. Total RWA value reached $38.2 billion as of Aug. 23, up from $20.6 billion a year ago, according to RWA.xyz data, with U.S. treasury debt accounting for $15.6 billion of that total. Separately, RWA.xyz put the tokenized-asset market above $38 billion, as firms including BlackRock and BNY expand their own blockchain-based fund and settlement initiatives.
Instead of asking investors to seek out tokenized products directly, Franklin is folding them into routine portfolio management through conventional ETFs and mutual funds. The shift points to tokenization moving from a wrapper around an investment toward becoming machinery inside it.
Sources: The Block, Bitcoin.com
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