Franklin Templeton senior digital assets executive Chetan Karkhanis says Asia is leading tokenized finance, with Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong roughly two to three years ahead of other regional markets. The firm launched Hong Kong’s first tokenized money market fund in November 2025, partnered with DBS Bank on Singapore’s first tokenized retail money market fund for a Q1 2026 launch, joined DigiFT in May 2026 to distribute tokenized products to accredited and institutional investors across Asia, and launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund with HashKey Exchange in August 2026 for professional investors in Hong Kong. These initiatives use Benji, Franklin Templeton’s proprietary blockchain infrastructure. Tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains rose from approximately $5.5 billion in 2021 to $18.6 billion in 2025, driven mainly by U.S. government securities. The firm is focusing on stablecoins, tokenized Treasuries and money market funds rather than more experimental DeFi applications, while Singapore and Hong Kong provide policy frameworks supportive of blockchain-based financial innovation.