Key Takeaways:
- In Asia, Franklin Templeton is launching its grBENJI tokenized money market fund with HashKey Exchange.
- The fund offers access to investments in U.S. government money market instruments and U.S. dollar cash assets through the blockchain.
- The product was launched on 24th August through HashKey’s Earn Channel for eligible professional investors.
HashKey Exchange is expanding its crypto investment offering with a major traditional finance name. The Hong Kong-licensed platform has partnered with Franklin Templeton to distribute its tokenized U.S. government liquidity fund, adding another real-world asset product to the region’s digital asset market.
HashKey Adds Tokenized U.S. Government Fund
The relationship focuses on the recently launched Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund (grBENJI) via HashKey Exchange’s Earn Channel on August 24.
Rather than giving investors direct exposure to cryptocurrencies, the product connects blockchain infrastructure with traditional money market assets. The basic approach involves mainly domestic U.S. government money market instruments and cash dollars assets.
The underlying assets of Franklin Templeton’s Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund consist of at least 99.5% U.S. government securities, cash and fully collateralized repurchase agreements. Its net assets stood at about $720.93 million as of July 31, 2026.
Notable with that launch is crypto investors who don’t look for volatile digital assets to generate yield on-chain.
Read More: Franklin Templeton Teams with Ondo to Launch 24/7 Tokenized ETFs
Blockchain Turns Traditional Fund Shares Into Digital Assets
For years, Franklin Templeton has been working on establishing an investment blockchain infrastructure. Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund was launched in 2021 and is the first U.S. registered mutual fund to process and record transactions on an open, public blockchain.
BENJI tokens represent the fund; the number of tokens a person or entity has represents the number of fund shares they hold. The shareholder register is maintained by Franklin Templeton’s transfer agent, and blockchain technology is used for transactional operations and to record ownership.
For crypto markets, it provides another way to finance traditional products, without giving up blockchain settlement and asset set-up.
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Professional Investors Get Access in Asia
The partnership aims to offer eligible (digital) asset investors, especially institutional and professional, a regulated real-world asset exposure, HashKey and Franklin Templeton said.
The product is not offered to the public in Hong Kong, and may only be purchased by qualified investors under the relevant framework.
The deal is strengthening the HashKey’s Earn ecosystem by providing a tokenized asset product from a global asset manager. The exchange offers another regulated avenue for digital asset transactions in Asia for Franklin Templeton.
The two firms are also considering other money market fund products that can be tokenized. The relationship has the potential to grow beyond the equity asset class in the future and HashKey’s platforms are still being built out in multi jurisdictions, said Franklin Templeton.
The announcement follows the trend of tokenized financial assets assuming more of a presence in cryptocurrencies as traditional funds migrate to blockchain rails to meet the demand of digital native investors, but with traditional investment uses.
