Expanding its blockchain-based investment products across Asia, the asset management giant unveils a fully on-chain structure for professional investors.
Franklin Templeton has officially launched a tokenized U.S. dollar-denominated money market fund in Hong Kong, marking its first fully on-chain investment product in the region. The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund integrates issuance, distribution, and record-keeping directly on blockchain — a first-of-its-kind structure for the local market.
Initially available only to institutional and professional investors, the fund is registered in Luxembourg under a regulated framework that allows its distribution across the European Union. According to the company, the fund aims to preserve capital and generate yield through short-term U.S. Treasury instruments while leveraging the transparency and efficiency of blockchain technology.
Franklin Templeton utilizes its proprietary blockchain record-keeping system to manage the fund’s lifecycle. Tarek Ahmad, Head of Asia-Pacific for the firm, stated that Franklin Templeton plans to extend tokenized investment opportunities to retail clients “pending approval from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.”
Brian Chan, Head of Wealth Management at OSL, Franklin Templeton’s regulated distribution partner, emphasized that “Hong Kong is rapidly becoming a trusted global hub for digital assets and institutional-grade tokenization initiatives.”
This development follows the launch of the ChinaAMC HKD Digital Money Market Fund earlier this year, signaling a growing regional momentum toward real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
Hong Kong’s monetary authority continues to advance supportive policies, including the Project Ensemble sandbox introduced in August 2025 to explore RWA tokenization and settlement using wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC). These initiatives are part of the city’s Fintech 2030 strategy, which envisions tokenized government bonds and an expanded role for the e-HKD stablecoin in the local economy.
