Franklin Templeton received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch the country’s first tokenized fund, which is available to retail investors. The Franklin OnChain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund represents an important milestone in democratizing investment opportunities through blockchain technology.
The fund, structured as a sub-fund under Franklin Templeton Investments Variable Capital Company (VCC), plans distribution using the firm’s proprietary blockchain-integrated transfer agency platform.
Investor Value
The fund stands out for its remarkably low entry point. Investors can access it with a minimum investment of just US$20, in contrast to other tokenized funds in the market. For instance, VanEck recently launched VBILL, which requires minimum investments of $100,000 for most blockchains and $1 million for Ethereum.
Additionally, it mirrors the strategy of the Luxembourg-registered Franklin Templeton money market fund. Investors gain exposure to high-quality short-term securities, primarily consisting of transferable securities, money market instruments of governments, and eligible securities of companies worldwide.
The Luxembourg fund’s portfolio reveals that approximately 52% of investments are in assets with maturity dates of more than 30 days. The remainder have maturity dates between one and 30 days. Notably, 92.38% of the fund’s allocation is in cash or cash equivalents. The rest is divided among securities of various commercial banks and companies.
Franklin Templeton Rides the Rising RWA Wave
Franklin Templeton’s move comes amid the rapid expansion in tokenizing real-world assets (RWA). The firm is already a significant player in this emerging market, with its tokenized US treasury product BENJI having almost $750 million in market cap.
The total value of on-chain RWA stands at $22.57 billion, showing 8.33% growth in the last 30 days. A joint report by Ripple and Boston Consulting Group estimates that the global asset tokenization market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, rising from approximately $600 billion in 2025.
Source: banklesstimes
