Singaporean bank DBS, American multinational investment management Franklin Templeton and technology firm Ripple are partnering to provide accredited and institutional investors with innovative trading and lending solutions, powered by tokenized money market funds on the XRP ledger blockchain and stablecoins such as Ripple USD (RLUSD).

The trio said in a statement on Thursday that this partnership – formalized with the signing of a memorandum of understanding – brings together the unique strengths of one of Asia’s largest financial institutions, a global investment manager and the leader in enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions.

It marks a new milestone in the growing maturation of the digital asset ecosystem, which is already seeing greater interest from institutional investors allocating to the asset class – some 87 percent of institutional investors expect to make investments into digital assets in 2025.

According to the statement, digital asset investors typically allocate directly into public blockchain native tokens such as Bitcoin, Ether and XRP.

This may expose them to the inherent market volatility of cryptocurrencies, while earning no yield on their portfolios.

To enable clients to manage their digital asset portfolios more nimbly in response to rapidly changing market conditions, DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) will list sgBENJI – the token of Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund, Franklin Onchain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund – alongside RLUSD.

With this setup, eligible DBS clients can trade RLUSD for sgBENJI tokens, enabling them to rebalance their portfolios into a relatively stable asset 24/7 and within minutes, while earning yield during periods of volatility.

In the next phase of the partnership, DBS will explore helping clients unlock liquidity by using their sgBENJI tokens as collateral.

Potential use cases include obtaining credit either from the bank via a repurchase transaction (repo), or from third-party platforms where DBS will act as an agent holding the
collateral.

This gives clients access to wider liquidity pools while providing peace of mind to clients and third-party lenders that the pledged collateral is held with a trusted bank.

To strengthen the tokenization ecosystem, Franklin Templeton will tokenize sgBENJI on the XRP Ledger – a public and enterprise-grade blockchain.

Adding the XRP Ledger to Franklin Templeton’s existing line-up of blockchains strengthens interoperability across networks, enabling greater accessibility across different chains and participants in the blockchain ecosystem.

The XRP Ledger was chosen for its speed, efficiency and low transaction costs, providing an ideal platform for managing the lifecycle of a high-volume, low-latency asset like a tokenized money market fund.

This ensures that tokenized assets can be traded and settled with the efficiency required by institutional investors.

“Digital asset investors need solutions that can meet the unique demands of a borderless 24/7 asset class,

“This partnership demonstrates how tokenized securities can play that role while injecting greater efficiency and liquidity in global financial markets,” said Lim Wee Kian, Chief Executive Officer of DBS Digital Exchange.

“Having been active in Asia’s blockchain ecosystem since 2021, this initiative strengthens our leadership position and represents a new front in DBS’ mission to provide our clients with trusted, institutional-grade solutions to build their digital asset portfolios,” he added.

Meanwhile, Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, said the firm believes that blockchain and tokenization unlock powerful new use cases that have the potential to reshape the global financial ecosystem.

“Leveraging Franklin Templeton’s expertise in blockchain technologies and digital assets, we are excited to partner with DBS and Ripple to introduce cutting-edge trading and lending solutions for investors,

“This collaboration represents a meaningful advancement in the utility of tokenised securities and a significant step forward in the growth of Asia’s digital asset ecosystem,” he added.

Nigel Khakoo, VP and Global Head of Trading and Markets at Ripple, said 2025 has been marked by a series of industry-firsts when it comes to traditional financial institutions
moving onchain – and the linkup between Ripple, DBS and Franklin Templeton to enable the first-ever repo trade for a tokenized money market fund with a regulated, stable and liquid mode of exchange such as RLUSD is truly a game-changer.

“Investors can also seamlessly rebalance their portfolios between a stablecoin and a yield- generating money market fund, all within a single, trusted ecosystem, unlocking real-world capital efficiency, utility and liquidity that institutions demand,” he added.

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