Franklin Templeton tokenized US money fund lands on HashKey

In June 2025, HashKey Chain and GF Securities Hong Kong launched GF Token, a security issued and managed on-chain, with HashKey Exchange serving as a distribution channel for qualified investors.

The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, Franklin Templeton's first tokenized money market product in Hong Kong, launched in November 2025 with support from HSBC and digital asset platform OSL. The fund, registered in Luxembourg, gave institutional and accredited investors access to short-term U.S. government debt. At the time, Franklin Templeton's APAC head Tariq Ahmad said the firm planned to pursue a version that could eventually be offered to retail investors, subject to approval from the SFC. The approval has not been announced, and the HashKey listing carries the same professional-investor restriction as the earlier launch.

The HashKey deal follows a series of distribution agreements Franklin Templeton has signed during 2026. In June, the asset manager added BENJI to MoonPay, letting institutional users swap stablecoins including USDC and USDT for the tokenized money market product through MoonPay Trade's on-chain system. Days later, Franklin Templeton completed its acquisition of 250 Digital, creating a Franklin Crypto division that combined the acquired firm's investment team with Franklin Templeton's existing digital asset operations.

Franklin Templeton has also placed traditional products inside crypto-native systems. The Ondo Finance partnership produced tokenized ETFs that trade around the clock through crypto wallets, covering U.S. equities and fixed income for eligible non-U.S. investors across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. A separate arrangement with Binance lets clients use tokenized money market fund shares as collateral for crypto trading while the underlying assets stay with regulated custodians.

Tokenized government debt has grown alongside that institutional activity. RWA.xyz data cited by HashKey put the total value of tokenized real-world assets at $38.2 billion as of Aug. 23, up from $20.6 billion a year earlier. Tokenized U.S. Treasury debt accounted for about $15.6 billion of that total, roughly 40% of the market and one of the largest categories in the on-chain RWA market.

Franklin Templeton's tokenized assets have expanded at a similar pace. A June report put the firm's assets under management at $1.78 trillion and showed tokenized assets rising from about $768 million in June 2025 to more than $2.5 billion within a year, according to RWA.xyz data. HashKey's announcement put Franklin Templeton's total AUM at $1.80 trillion as of July 31, with operations spanning more than 35 countries.

Karkhanis said the two companies expect to expand beyond money market funds, using HashKey's operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai and Bermuda as potential distribution points. Franklin Templeton said the pair will continue assessing additional tokenized products following the Aug. 24 launch. "We look forward to deepening this partnership by expanding beyond tokenized money market funds into other tokenized products over time," he said.