Key Takeaways
- • Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund had approximately $687.3 million in total net assets as of March 31, 2025, according to its annual shareholder report filed with the SEC, and uses a public blockchain as its system of record with each share represented by a BENJI token.
- • A May 2026 redemption of Ondo Finance's tokenized Treasury product OUSG, involving JPMorgan's Kinexys, Mastercard and Ripple, settled in under five seconds outside traditional banking hours, per CoinDesk.
- • Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its U.S. Dollar Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger in July 2026, after announcing the plan in February 2026, retaining the fund's objective, risk profile and regulatory protections.
- • The London Stock Exchange Group is developing an on-chain settlement service for tokenized bonds, equities and private-market assets, designed to connect with existing settlement systems rather than replace them, according to Reuters (February 2026).
- • Tokenization's practical value is measured by assets on-chain, transaction completion, settlement speed and interoperability, not cryptocurrency prices.
Summary
Tokenization of traditional financial products is moving beyond purely digital assets, with asset managers and financial institutions using blockchain networks to issue, transfer and settle recognizable products such as money market funds and Treasury-backed instruments. The underlying portfolio and investment strategy of a tokenized fund can remain unchanged; blockchain is used to represent fund shares, record ownership and support transactions.
Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, launched in 2021, is the leading established example. It uses a public blockchain as its system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership, and later expanded to the XRP Ledger. According to Franklin Templeton's annual shareholder report filed with the SEC, the fund held approximately $687.3 million in total net assets as of March 31, 2025, a figure specific to the Franklin fund rather than the tokenized-asset market as a whole.
Redemption capability is a key test of infrastructure. A May 2026 transaction involving Ondo Finance, JPMorgan's Kinexys, Mastercard and Ripple saw Ondo's OUSG, a tokenized U.S. Treasury exposure product, redeemed through a process connecting the XRP Ledger with existing payment infrastructure. CoinDesk reported the cross-border redemption settled in under five seconds, outside traditional banking hours. Fund operations still require custody, transfer agent or comparable ownership records, administration and settlement systems, and liquidity depends on efficient transfer and redemption across blockchains, banks and payment systems.
Traditional managers are also testing the model. Aviva Investors announced plans in February 2026 to bring traditional fund structures to the XRP Ledger and launched a tokenized share class of its U.S. Dollar Liquidity Fund on the network in July, intended to keep the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as the conventional fund. In February 2026, Reuters reported that the London Stock Exchange Group was developing an on-chain settlement service for tokenized bonds, equities and private-market assets, intended to connect with existing settlement systems across multiple blockchain networks.
The article argues that evaluating tokenization requires operational metrics, including assets represented on-chain, transaction success, settlement time and interoperability between financial systems. Tokenized funds show blockchain layering onto established asset management processes rather than creating new asset categories, with the underlying investment remaining familiar while ownership and transaction systems change.
Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, launched in 2021, is the leading established example. It uses a public blockchain as its system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership, and later expanded to the XRP Ledger. According to Franklin Templeton's annual shareholder report filed with the SEC, the fund held approximately $687.3 million in total net assets as of March 31, 2025, a figure specific to the Franklin fund rather than the tokenized-asset market as a whole.
Redemption capability is a key test of infrastructure. A May 2026 transaction involving Ondo Finance, JPMorgan's Kinexys, Mastercard and Ripple saw Ondo's OUSG, a tokenized U.S. Treasury exposure product, redeemed through a process connecting the XRP Ledger with existing payment infrastructure. CoinDesk reported the cross-border redemption settled in under five seconds, outside traditional banking hours. Fund operations still require custody, transfer agent or comparable ownership records, administration and settlement systems, and liquidity depends on efficient transfer and redemption across blockchains, banks and payment systems.
Traditional managers are also testing the model. Aviva Investors announced plans in February 2026 to bring traditional fund structures to the XRP Ledger and launched a tokenized share class of its U.S. Dollar Liquidity Fund on the network in July, intended to keep the same investment objective, risk profile, liquidity characteristics and regulatory protections as the conventional fund. In February 2026, Reuters reported that the London Stock Exchange Group was developing an on-chain settlement service for tokenized bonds, equities and private-market assets, intended to connect with existing settlement systems across multiple blockchain networks.
The article argues that evaluating tokenization requires operational metrics, including assets represented on-chain, transaction success, settlement time and interoperability between financial systems. Tokenized funds show blockchain layering onto established asset management processes rather than creating new asset categories, with the underlying investment remaining familiar while ownership and transaction systems change.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.