Asia Dominates Tokenized Finance, Franklin Templeton Sees Broad Adoption Ahead
Franklin Templeton's senior digital assets executive Chetan Karkhanis says Asia is leading in tokenized finance, with Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong roughly two to three years ahead of other regional markets.
In November 2025, Franklin Templeton launched Hong Kong's first tokenized money market fund, followed by a collaboration with DBS Bank to roll out Singapore's first tokenized retail money market fund in Q1 2026.
The firm's proprietary blockchain infrastructure, Benji, has powered the moves, including the world's first US-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain, which enabled fractional ownership, greater transparency, and on-chain settlement for traditional investment products.
Karkhanis attributes Asia's progress to clear frameworks for digital asset innovation from Singapore's Monetary Authority and Hong Kong's Fintech 2030 plan, which has laid out an explicit roadmap for integrating blockchain technology into the financial system.