Franklin Templeton Expands into Tokenised Assets with Singapore Retail Fund Launch

Franklin Templeton has received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch its Franklin OnChain US Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund, marking the city-state’s first tokenised fund accessible to all investors.

Mirroring the structure of its Luxembourg-registered counterpart, the Singapore-based fund will offer exposure to short-term securities and government-backed money market instruments.

The Luxembourg fund currently manages $1.76 billion in assets with a net asset value (NAV) of $9.81.

A majority—52%—is allocated to assets with maturities over 30 days, while the remainder spans maturities between one and 30 days.

Notably, over 92% of its holdings are in cash or cash equivalents, with the balance spread across securities issued by commercial banks and other institutions.

The Singapore fund is expected to adopt a similar investment approach.

The new offering will be structured under Franklin Templeton Investments Variable Capital Company (VCC) and will use the firm’s blockchain-integrated transfer agency platform for issuing and managing shares.

According to Franklin Templeton’s Head of APAC, Tariq Ahmed, the launch represents a significant step forward in leveraging blockchain to expand access to traditional investment products.

Ahmed said:

“The new fund marks a significant milestone in our commitment to harnessing the power of blockchain technology to lower the barriers to investing and deliver transformative products for investors in Asia-Pacific.”

A key feature of the fund is its $20 minimum investment, dramatically lowering the barrier to entry and signalling the firm’s intention to make institutional-grade products available to retail investors.

Competing at Scale, Serving the Individual

Although Franklin Templeton has not announced a launch date for its tokenised fund in Singapore, the approval marks a significant step in the accelerating trend of real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation.

The firm is already a major player in the space—its tokenised US Treasury product, BENJI, has reached nearly $750 million in market capitalisation.

Unlike other tokenised offerings such as VanEck’s VBILL, which require minimum investments ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, Franklin Templeton is taking a more inclusive approach, targeting retail investors directly.

This move underscores a broader industry shift toward democratising access to institutional-grade financial instruments.

The initiative also aligns with Franklin Templeton’s broader digital asset strategy, which has been in motion since 2018.

In 2021, the firm launched the first US-registered mutual fund to record share ownership on a public blockchain, and it continues to be deeply involved in blockchain innovation.

It is a key participant in Project Guardian, a Monetary Authority of Singapore-led initiative exploring how asset tokenisation can enhance market liquidity and efficiency.

More recently, Franklin Templeton partnered with the Arbitrum Foundation to tokenise US Treasury offerings.

As part of this effort, ArbitrumDAO approved allocating 35% of its treasury to the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX)—now represented on-chain as BENJI.

As the lines between traditional finance and blockchain continue to blur, could retail access to tokenised treasuries become the new normal?