Tokenized Cash Meets Collateral: DBS Redefines Liquidity with sgBENJI and RLUSD

DBS Bank, in collaboration with Franklin Templeton and Ripple, has taken a major step toward enhancing liquidity and market efficiency by listing Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund, sgBENJI, alongside Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, on DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx). This move enables eligible DBS clients to trade RLUSD for sgBENJI, offering rapid portfolio rebalancing while generating yield, even during market volatility.

The sgBENJI token represents Franklin Templeton’s Onchain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund, which holds approximately $736 million in short-term government securities. By leveraging the XRP Ledger, the partnership capitalizes on the blockchain’s speed and low transaction costs to facilitate 24/7 trading of tokenized fund shares. The XRP Ledger’s advantages, such as near-instant settlement and cost efficiency, were cited as key factors in this initiative, enabling investors to trade a dollar-pegged stablecoin for a token-backed cash-equivalent fund within minutes.

Beyond trading, the partnership is also exploring the use of sgBENJI tokens as collateral for repurchase (repo) agreements. DBS will facilitate repo transactions with its clients or act as an agent on third-party lending platforms, ensuring the collateral is securely held by the bank. This development introduces a novel liquidity mechanism, allowing clients to access cash without selling their fund holdings, thereby preserving yield during volatile periods. The use of tokenized assets in repo agreements is expected to expand liquidity pools and potentially redefine traditional collateral management practices in the institutional finance sector.

The collaboration aligns with growing institutional interest in digital assets, with a survey indicating that 87% of institutional investors plan to allocate to digital assets by 2025. For Franklin Templeton, the tokenization of sgBENJI on the XRP Ledger marks a strategic expansion of its tokenization efforts across multiple blockchain platforms. The firm emphasized that blockchain and tokenization are unlocking innovative financial use cases that could reshape the global financial ecosystem. Ripple, on the other hand, highlighted that enabling repo trades for tokenized money market funds backed by RLUSD offers a regulated, stable, and liquid exchange mechanism for institutional investors.

The initiative also underscores the broader trend of financial institutions integrating stablecoins and tokenized assets into their offerings. RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin, has seen rapid adoption, with its market cap reaching approximately $244 million in Q1 2025. As tokenized cash instruments become more prevalent, they are expected to facilitate faster, more cost-effective, and transparent financial transactions, particularly in cross-border and institutional settings. This trend is further supported by evolving regulatory frameworks, such as the GENIUS Act in the U.S. and MiCA in the EU, which are shaping the future of tokenized asset regulation.