Franklin Templeton and SWIFT assert that the future of banking will operate around the clock and be inherently blockchain-based.

Tokenized funds and deposits are progressing towards mainstream acceptance, although challenges regarding regulation, infrastructure, and security persist.

(l-r) Chetan Karkhanis of Franklin Templeton, Jean-Francois Rochet of Ledger, Devendra Verma of Swift, Nik De of CoinDesk: Consensus Hong Kong 2026 (CoinDesk)

What to know:

• Asset managers are transitioning money market funds onto the blockchain to facilitate continuous liquidity and reduce servicing expenses.
• SWIFT is developing infrastructure to link CBDCs and digital bank liabilities to worldwide payment systems.
• Consistent regulations and robust key management are essential for widespread adoption.

Tokenized money market funds and digital bank deposits are evolving from experimental initiatives to foundational financial infrastructure, according to executives from Franklin Templeton, SWIFT, and Ledger during Consensus Hong Kong 2026.

“Transform traditional financial instruments to be cheaper, improved, and faster by integrating them natively on the blockchain,” stated Chetan Karkhanis from Franklin Templeton.

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The asset manager is concentrating on the tokenization of money market funds, a global asset class valued at approximately $10 trillion, comprised of short-term Treasuries and repurchase agreements. By issuing fund shares directly on-chain and enabling access through self-custody wallets or exchanges, Franklin Templeton intends to provide constant liquidity and lower operational expenses, including shareholder servicing fees that vary from five to 15 basis points.

From the banking perspective, SWIFT is investigating how tokenized deposits—digital representations of bank liabilities—could enhance payment systems without affecting balance sheets.

“Banks maintain fiat balances on their balance sheets… but as they transition to the new digital form of value, the tokenized deposits are represented on-chain,” explained Devendra Verma from SWIFT’s digital assets division.

SWIFT, which connects over 11,500 institutions worldwide, is constructing a blockchain-based orchestration layer aimed at interoperability with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized deposits, and other regulated digital assets. Although 75% of SWIFT payments already reach recipients within 10 minutes, Verma indicated that the goal is to remove cut-off times and holiday delays, aiming for “24/7, always available” services.

However, adoption is still limited compared to global capital markets. Karkhanis pointed out that there is about $300 billion in stablecoins and roughly $40 billion in tokenized Treasuries and other real-world assets currently on-chain—“a drop in the ocean” compared to more than $200 trillion in global wealth.

Regulatory issues pose a significant barrier. “Clear regulations are extremely crucial,” Verma remarked, emphasizing the necessity for uniform standards concerning accounting, compliance, and balance sheet treatment prior to institutions pursuing more aggressive scaling.

Security and governance are additional areas of concern. “How do we ensure this is done securely? Trust and confidence are the main questions,” asserted Jean-François Rochet of Ledger, noting that managing private keys and institutional controls remains both a cultural and technical challenge.

Despite the origins of crypto in disintermediation, the panelists suggested that the future will likely be hybrid. “It is possible to have both approaches,” Karkhanis stated, proposing that decentralized access and traditional intermediaries can coexist. Some intermediaries may disappear, Rochet added, but the ones that persist will need to validate their roles in a restructured financial ecosystem.