Tokenisation news, 25 August 2026
Standard Chartered, HSBC, Franklin Templeton, and South Korea's Shinhan Asset Management all made concrete moves this week — spanning bank-native bonds, tokenized deposits, regulatory clearance for fund structures, and a cross-border tokenized fund pilot.
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Key takeaways
- Standard Chartered issued $200 million in three-year floating-rate Digitally Native Notes via Euroclear's D-FMI platform — the first Global Systemically Important Bank and first UK issuer to do so.
- Standard Chartered and HSBC completed the first interoperable tokenized deposit transaction between two banks, routed through Swift's blockchain-based ledger.
- The US SEC cleared Franklin Templeton to use its tokenized money-market fund (roughly $720 million in assets) as a cash holding or collateral inside its conventional ETFs and mutual funds — funds that together hold over $870 billion in combined assets.
- Shinhan Asset Management, which oversees more than $96 billion, signed a four-party MOU with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to pilot a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund.
Standard Chartered notches two firsts in bank-native infrastructure
Standard Chartered issued $200 million in three-year floating-rate Digitally Native Notes through Euroclear's new Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI) platform, a system that lets banks issue and settle bonds directly on a blockchain-based ledger while staying connected to Euroclear's existing investor and settlement network. The bank is the first globally systemic bank and the first UK issuer to use the platform, with the notes expected to trade on the London Stock Exchange's International Securities Market. Separately, Standard Chartered and HSBC completed the first interoperable transaction between their tokenized deposits — digital representations of bank deposits that can be transferred and settled automatically — after Swift's blockchain-based ledger matched and netted the obligations ahead of final settlement through existing payment systems.
The Investre take: Two of the world's largest banks are proving that tokenized bonds and tokenized deposits can plug into infrastructure they already use, rather than requiring a parallel financial system. That's an encouraging sign for European fund infrastructure too: the tools to connect exist now, and they work with what's already in place.
More on the bond here, and the deposit transaction here.
SEC clears Franklin Templeton to use a tokenized money-market fund inside traditional funds
The US Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter on August 12, 2026, telling Franklin Templeton it will not recommend enforcement action if the firm's conventional funds invest in the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund — a tokenized money-market fund known by its token name, BENJI, which held roughly $720 million in assets at the time of the letter. The relief lets Franklin funds use the tokenized fund as a cash holding or as collateral inside the firm's conventional ETFs and mutual funds, which together hold more than $82 billion and $790 billion respectively. Franklin says this is the first time the SEC has confirmed that a digitally native fund can sit inside traditional investment products this way, meaning investors in ordinary funds could end up holding tokenized assets without seeking them out. The change could take effect as early as the fourth quarter of 2026, pending approval from the boards of the funds involved.
The Investre take: US regulators just confirmed that a token can sit inside a mainstream fund as cash or collateral without special treatment — a strong signal that tokenized fund structures are becoming a normal, well-understood part of the toolkit. Luxembourg's Control Agent framework already gives fund managers exactly that kind of clarity for the register question.
Shinhan Asset Management signs a four-party deal to test a Korean won tokenized fund
Shinhan Asset Management, a South Korean asset manager overseeing more than $96 billion, has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation and two blockchain infrastructure firms, Etherfuse and Orca, to run a proof-of-concept for issuing and distributing a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund. The structure under review would let overseas institutional investors buy into an ultra-short-term Korean won bond fund managed by Shinhan, with the resulting holdings issued as tokens — an approach the firm says is modeled on BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL. The work will cover know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering checks, security audits, and how the tokens would maintain on-chain liquidity. The deal follows a South Korean law passed in January 2026 that creates a legal framework for tokenized securities, expected to take effect in early 2027.
The Investre take: South Korea just showed that a tokenized fund built around institutional-grade compliance from the outset earns real asset-manager confidence. It's a good moment for European fund managers to see how well that same legal certainty is already available to them in Luxembourg.
What this means for European fund managers
Luxembourg fund managers already have the legal basis to do this today. Under the Blockchain IV Law, an authorised Control Agent can maintain a fund's share register on a distributed ledger without needing a separate transfer agent or central securities depository. Investre was the first firm authorised for this role. Learn more about the UCITS and AIF manager use cases.
Further reading: Investre becomes the first Controlling Agent under Blockchain IV Law, or The Final Block podcast.
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