DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple have teamed up to launch trading and lending solutions powered by tokenized money market funds and stablecoins.

The partnership was formalized with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in response to growing interest among institutional investors in digital assets. According to a recent report by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase, 87% of institutional investors expect to invest in the asset class by 2025.

Digital asset investors typically allocate directly into public blockchains, which 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, DBS Digital Exchange ( DDEx ) will list sgBENJI – the token of Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund, Franklin Onchain US Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund – alongside Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD. With this setup, eligible DBS clients can trade RLUSD for sgBENJI tokens, enabling them to rebalance their portfolios into a relatively stable asset while earning yields during periods of volatility.

In the next phase of the partnership, DBS will help 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 will provide clients with access to wider liquidity pools while reassuring 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.

“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,” says DDEx chief executive officer Lim Wee Kian. “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.”