The issuer and the product
Franklin Templeton is a global asset manager with $1.79tn under management at 30 June 2026, more than 75 years of active management and investors in more than 150 countries. It has managed US dollar short-term money market strategies for more than 30 years.
It was also early in bringing regulated funds on chain, through Benji, its own system for recording fund shares on public blockchains. The fund on Tokinvest is the Singapore version, launched on 18 September 2025. Its share register is kept entirely on chain, with each share issued as an sgBenji token on the Stellar blockchain.
The fund is a sub-fund of a Singapore variable capital company (VCC), Singapore’s standard structure for investment funds. It invests in high-quality US dollar debt, money market instruments and cash, aiming for current income consistent with preserving capital and liquidity. It is benchmarked to the Bloomberg US Treasury 1-3 Month Index. Income accrues daily and is reflected in the NAV rather than paid out. Fund assets are held by DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited.
Why distribute in the UAE
For Franklin Templeton, the agreement opens a new route to market in the Middle East without building new infrastructure. Synthesys Network connects the fund’s existing regulated distribution to our platform, and we handle the investors.
A fund manager selling into the UAE needs a locally licensed firm to do the work on the ground: categorise and onboard investors, run identity and anti-money-laundering checks, hold client money and keep the record of who holds what. We do this under our VARA licence, so the manager can reach UAE investors without setting up its own local operation.
What we did
We announced the distribution agreement on 10 June 2026. Under it, Tokinvest is distributor and platform operator for the Middle East: we onboard investors, aggregate and place their orders, and give them access through our platform. Synthesys Network connects the fund’s regulated distribution to us, and Pinetree Securities is the fund’s primary distributor and our counterparty.
An investor’s money goes into a segregated client money account at Tokinvest, then to Pinetree Securities, then into the fund. Redemptions run the same way in reverse. Orders received by our 3pm GST cut-off go into that day’s dealing at the next NAV the fund strikes. Settlement takes two business days or longer. If redemptions in a share class pass 10% on one dealing day, the fund can defer the excess to the next dealing day.
Investors on Tokinvest do not hold sgBenji tokens directly or appear on the fund’s on-chain register. Tokinvest holds Class A shares through Pinetree Securities and keeps the record of each investor’s entitlement. On our platform, each investor holds a token that tracks their share of that holding. These tokens move only between onboarded Tokinvest investors and are redeemed at NAV. Platform positions are held by Hex Trust.
Every investor goes through our onboarding: client categorisation, customer due diligence, beneficial ownership checks and sanctions screening. The minimum investment through Tokinvest is USD 100,000, and we charge a 0.10% subscription fee.
Where it stands
We announced the agreement on 10 June 2026. The fund went live on Tokinvest in July 2026 and is open for subscriptions on any dealing day.
Tokenised funds only create real value when they can be accessed through trusted, regulated channels without the constraints of fragmentation. Synthesys Network connects the regulated distribution of Franklin Templeton’s tokenised fund to Tokinvest’s Middle East footprint, opening an important new route to market for the fund, expanding liquidity demand without the need for rebuilding infrastructure.
