DBS Bank teams up with Franklin Templeton and Ripple on tokenized fund solutions

Singapore's DBS Bank has partnered with Franklin Templeton and Ripple to offer new trading and lending solutions that utilize tokenized money market funds and the RLUSD stablecoin. 

As part of the collaboration, DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) is listing sgBENJI, which is the token representing the Franklin Onchain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund. This allows eligible institutional clients to trade the tokenized fund for RLUSD. The asset manager said it will tokenize the fund on the XRP ledger, selected for its speed and cost efficiency.

"Digital asset investors need solutions that can meet the unique demands of a borderless 24/7 asset class," said Lim Wee Kian, CEO of DBS Digital Exchange. "This partnership demonstrates how tokenized securities can play that role while injecting greater efficiency and liquidity in global financial markets." 

In the next phase of the partnership, DBS will explore allowing clients to use their sgBENJI holdings as collateral to obtain credit, possibly through a repurchase agreement with the bank or with third parties where DBS would act as a collateral agent.

DBS says it has been active in Asia's blockchain space since 2021. More recently, it has been actively launching new products that integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency. Last month, DBS announced that it will tokenize structured notes on Ethereum for eligible users.