HashKey Exchange, the licensed virtual asset trading platform under HashKey Holdings (3887.HK), has begun offering the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund (grBENJI) through its Earn channel, according to a press release issued on August 24, 2026.
The product gives eligible professional investors in Asia access to a fund that holds U.S. government money market instruments and U.S. dollar cash. Ownership and transfers are recorded on public blockchain infrastructure, while the official shareholder register continues to be maintained by Franklin Templeton’s affiliated transfer agent.
HashKey Exchange operates under Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading services) licences. The offering is restricted to professional investors and is not available to users in Mainland China, the United States, or certain other jurisdictions.
How the Product is Structured
grBENJI is a tokenized money market fund in which each share of Franklin’s on-chain fund is represented by one BENJI token. The underlying portfolio targets short-term U.S. government securities, repurchase agreements, and cash, aiming for a stable $1.00 net asset value, consistent with conventional government money market funds.
Franklin Templeton launched the fund, formally known as FOBXX, in April 2021 as a U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain to process transactions and record share ownership. The BENJI suite has since expanded across multiple networks, including Stellar, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Aptos, Base, and BNB Chain, following the platform’s integration with BNB Chain in September 2025.
The setup uses a dual-layer recordkeeping model: blockchain rails handle transaction recording and settlement, while Franklin Templeton Investor Services (FTIS) retains control of private keys and the official shareholder file, with the ability to correct blockchain-related errors and restore records where required.
Haiyang Ru, CEO of HashKey Exchange BG, said the collaboration is intended to meet demand from professional investors for compliant, real-world asset (RWA) yield products through a licensed venue.
Regulatory Context in the U.S. and Hong Kong
The Asia listing arrives roughly two weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter dated August 12, 2026 permitting certain Franklin registered funds to hold shares of the on-chain U.S. government money fund for cash management without complying with paragraphs (b), (e), and (f) of Rule 17f-2 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, provisions originally written for physical securities custody.
The SEC’s staff position applies only to the specific facts Franklin Templeton presented in its request. It is not a rule, does not constitute Commission approval, and, according to the letter itself, has no independent legal force. The Asia distribution via HashKey represents a separate, region-specific channel rather than a direct extension of the U.S. relief.
In Hong Kong, the listing joins a growing catalogue of tokenized-asset activity on regulated venues. HashKey Exchange in February 2026 launched a one-stop RWA solution covering primary subscription and secondary trading with delivery-versus-payment settlement, and earlier this month became one of the first authorised distributors for the regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP.
Where grBENJI Sits in the Tokenized Treasury Market
Tokenized U.S. Treasury and money market products already exist across several venues and networks. BlackRock’s BUIDL, Ondo’s OUSG and USDY, and Circle’s USYC have all placed short-duration government exposure on-chain and remain the segment’s largest issuers by distributed value.
According to data from RWA.xyz and industry trackers, the tokenized U.S. Treasury category held roughly $16 billion in distributed value across more than 80 assets by early August 2026. Four issuers account for the bulk of that total: Circle’s USYC at approximately $3 billion, BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized through Securitize at around $2.9 billion, Ondo’s USDY and OUSG franchise near $2.6 billion, and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI at roughly $2.5 billion. The bulk of BENJI’s value continues to sit on Stellar, the network where the fund first launched in 2021.
The HashKey listing adds a Hong Kong-licensed distribution point for one specific Franklin product rather than a new tokenized instrument. It does not alter the underlying asset risk profile, which remains tied to U.S. government securities and to the operational risks of the dual recordkeeping model that Franklin has used since 2021.
Market Mechanics for HashKey’s Professional Investor Base
For professional investors already holding digital assets on HashKey, the Earn channel placement creates a direct route to allocate capital into a government-backed money market instrument without first exiting the platform. Settlement and transfer characteristics will depend on the specific blockchain implementation used for grBENJI tokens and on HashKey’s internal handling of the product.
Subscription and redemption data are not yet public. Because the product is restricted to professional investors, near-term uptake will be confined to that segment. Both HashKey Exchange and Franklin Templeton indicated in the announcement that further tokenized products could follow, without providing timelines or naming specific asset classes.
The distribution also builds on Franklin Templeton’s existing Hong Kong footprint. In June 2026, the asset manager partnered with EX.IO, another Hong Kong-licensed virtual asset trading platform, to distribute grBENJI to professional investors, marking the fund’s first Hong Kong VATP channel.
For the tokenized RWA market as a whole, the listing represents an incremental move in the gradual placement of short-duration fixed-income exposure onto regulated digital-asset venues in Asia. Whether the product generates measurable on-chain flow or functions primarily as a treasury management option for existing clients will only become clear once trading and subscription data emerge in the coming quarters.
Also Read: WLFI’s USD1 Expands Into RWA Yield With New Concrete Vault
