Franklin Templeton and SWIFT Outline 24-7 On-Chain Banking Plans

Franklin Templeton and SWIFT Outline 24-7 On-Chain Banking Vision – Tokenized Funds and Deposits Move Toward Early Infrastructure

Key Takeaways

• Franklin Templeton is issuing tokenized money market fund shares natively on-chain to enable 24-7 liquidity and reduce servicing costs.
• SWIFT is developing infrastructure to connect tokenized deposits, CBDCs and regulated digital assets to global payment rails.
• Executives say regulatory clarity and institutional-grade key management remain key barriers to broader adoption.
• Approximately $300 billion in stablecoins and about $40 billion in tokenized treasuries and other real-world assets are currently on-chain.

Asset Managers Push Money Market Funds On-Chain

Franklin Templeton is advancing the tokenization of money market funds, positioning them as a core use case for blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Speaking at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Chetan Karkhanis of Franklin Templeton said the objective is to take traditional financial instruments and make them cheaper and more efficient by issuing them natively on-chain.

The firm is focusing on money market funds, a global asset class valued at roughly $10 trillion and composed primarily of short-term Treasuries and repurchase agreements. By placing fund shares directly on blockchain networks, Franklin Templeton enables access through self-custody wallets or exchanges. This structure is designed to provide 24-7 liquidity, removing traditional cut-off times associated with fund subscriptions and redemptions.

In addition to continuous access, the firm aims to reduce operational expenses. Shareholder servicing fees in traditional structures can range from five to 15 basis points. Tokenized issuance, according to the company, can lower these costs by streamlining record-keeping and transaction processing.

For users of crypto platforms, tokenized money market funds represent a regulated yield-bearing instrument that can exist alongside stablecoins and other digital assets within blockchain ecosystems. The model allows investors to hold fund shares in digital wallets rather than through conventional brokerage accounts.

SWIFT Develops Infrastructure for Tokenized Deposits and CBDCs

On the banking side, SWIFT is working on integrating tokenized deposits and central bank digital currencies into existing global payment systems. Devendra Verma, representing SWIFT’s digital assets unit, described tokenized deposits as digital representations of fiat balances already held on bank balance sheets.

Rather than replacing existing liabilities, tokenized deposits mirror traditional fiat holdings in a new digital format. This approach allows banks to modernize payment processes without altering their balance sheet structure.

SWIFT connects more than 11,500 financial institutions worldwide. The organization reports that 75 percent of its payments already reach beneficiaries within 10 minutes. Its current initiative aims to eliminate cut-off times and holiday delays by creating continuous availability, moving toward a 24-7 operating model.

To achieve this, SWIFT is building a blockchain-based orchestration layer. This infrastructure is designed to interoperate with central bank digital currencies, tokenized bank deposits and other regulated digital assets. The goal is to ensure that new digital forms of value can move across the same global rails used for conventional cross-border payments.

For market participants, including crypto users and operators that rely on banking partners, such interoperability could influence how fiat on-ramps, settlement times and liquidity management evolve in the coming years.

Tokenized Assets Remain Small Compared With Global Markets

Despite growing institutional involvement, on-chain financial assets remain modest in scale compared with global capital markets. According to figures cited during the panel, roughly $300 billion in stablecoins and about $40 billion in tokenized treasuries and other real-world assets are currently issued on blockchain networks.

Karkhanis characterized these amounts as small relative to more than $200 trillion in global wealth. The comparison underscores that tokenized finance, while expanding, still represents a limited share of overall financial assets.

For comparison platform users tracking crypto liquidity and collateral trends, these figures provide context on the depth of tokenized markets. Stablecoins continue to dominate on-chain representations of fiat value, while tokenized government securities and similar instruments form a smaller but developing segment.

Regulatory and Security Barriers Slow Institutional Scaling

Executives from Franklin Templeton, SWIFT and Ledger identified regulatory clarity and secure key management as primary constraints on wider adoption.

Verma emphasized the need for consistent standards covering accounting treatment, compliance requirements and balance sheet recognition. Without harmonized regulatory frameworks, large-scale institutional deployment remains limited.

Security and governance were also highlighted as critical issues. Jean-Francois Rochet of Ledger pointed to the challenges of managing private keys and implementing institutional controls. For traditional financial institutions, secure custody of cryptographic keys requires both technical infrastructure and organizational adaptation.

These factors influence how quickly banks and asset managers can transition from pilot programs to production-level systems. While tokenization is moving beyond experimental stages, the speakers described the current phase as early-stage infrastructure development rather than full-scale transformation.

Hybrid Financial Models Expected to Coexist

Although blockchain technology is often associated with disintermediation, the panel suggested that traditional intermediaries will continue to play a role. Karkhanis stated that decentralized access and conventional financial intermediaries can coexist within the same system.

Rochet added that while some intermediaries may become less central, those that remain will need to justify their function within a redesigned financial architecture. This reflects an emerging model in which regulated institutions, blockchain networks and digital asset service providers operate in parallel.

For users of crypto betting and online platforms, such hybrid structures may shape how fiat and digital assets interact. Tokenized deposits and on-chain funds could eventually influence settlement cycles, treasury management and cross-border transfers used by licensed operators and their banking partners.

Our Assessment

Statements from Franklin Templeton and SWIFT indicate that tokenized money market funds and digital bank deposits are moving from pilot projects toward early infrastructure deployment. The initiatives focus on continuous availability, cost reduction and interoperability with existing payment systems. At the same time, regulatory consistency, accounting standards and institutional-grade key management remain necessary conditions for broader adoption. Current on-chain asset volumes, including stablecoins and tokenized treasuries, remain small compared with global financial markets, highlighting that tokenization is expanding but not yet systemic in scale.