Marketnode Becomes Authorised Distributor for Franklin Templeton's OnChain Money Market Fund in Singapore
Key points
- Marketnode, backed by Euroclear, HSBC, SGX Group, and Temasek, has been named an authorised distributor for Franklin Templeton's Franklin OnChain USD Short-Term Money Market Fund (BENJI) in Singapore.
- The fund invests in high-quality, USD-denominated debt and money market instruments and uses Franklin Templeton's proprietary Benji Technology platform for blockchain-integrated recordkeeping.
- Both parties have confirmed that future phases of the collaboration will seek to broaden access to other Franklin Templeton funds beyond the initial money market product.
- Franklin Templeton's Head of Digital Assets, Roger Bayston, cited Marketnode's regulatory standards, market infrastructure capabilities, and shared vision for digitally enabled investment solutions as reasons for the partnership.
- The arrangement suggests a distribution model where the asset manager retains the on-chain infrastructure layer while a regulated infrastructure operator handles client-facing distribution, a structure worth tracking as tokenised fund shelves expand.
Marketnode, the digital market infrastructure operator backed by Euroclear, HSBC, SGX Group, and Temasek, has been appointed as an authorised distributor for Franklin Templeton‘s Franklin OnChain USD Short-Term Money Market Fund, known as BENJI. The appointment gives Marketnode’s client base access to a fund investing in high-quality, USD-denominated debt and money market instruments, with recordkeeping handled through Franklin Templeton’s proprietary Benji Technology platform, which integrates blockchain for transparency and accessibility.
The distribution arrangement is explicitly scoped beyond this single product. Both parties have indicated that future phases will extend the relationship to other Franklin Templeton funds, suggesting this is an opening position in a broader product shelf rather than a standalone deal. For operators watching tokenised fund distribution infrastructure in Singapore, the pairing of a regulated market infrastructure operator with a fund manager running its own blockchain recordkeeping layer is a structurally significant configuration.
Franklin Templeton’s Roger Bayston cited Marketnode’s regulatory standards and market infrastructure capabilities as the basis for selection, framing the collaboration as part of a wider effort to expand a suite of tokenised funds globally. Andrew Scott of Marketnode characterised the appointment as consistent with its mandate to widen access to institutional-grade investment options. The arrangement appears to position Marketnode as a distribution conduit for tokenised fund products where the underlying technology and governance already sit with the asset manager, rather than requiring the distributor to build its own on-chain layer.