Standard Chartered, OKX, and Franklin Templeton have launched a pilot trading platform aimed at institutional clients seeking to use crypto and tokenized money market funds as collateral for off-exchange transactions. The initiative, announced on April 10, integrates tokenized assets into risk management workflows and trading operations, with a focus on compliance, security, and liquidity.
Franklin Templeton’s Digital Assets division is contributing tokenized on-chain assets that can be used as collateral by OKX clients, enhancing operational efficiency and enabling real-time settlement. Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, emphasized that on-chain minting supports true asset ownership and instant settlement, eliminating dependency on legacy infrastructure and aligning with blockchain-native systems.
Brevan Howard Digital, a subsidiary of the alternative investment giant Brevan Howard, is among the first institutional participants in the pilot. Ryan Taylor, chief administrative officer of Brevan Howard Digital, noted that the initiative represents a significant step in the institutionalization of digital assets by offering a compliant and scalable infrastructure for large players.
The pilot operates under the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) framework. Custody is handled by Standard Chartered through its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) entity, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. OKX, through its VARA-regulated unit, will manage the collateral and execution process, maintaining institutional-grade safeguards.
According to Standard Chartered’s Margaret Harwood-Jones, the platform utilizes the bank’s existing custody framework to provide secure collateral management. OKX President Hong Fang described the effort as a capital-efficient model tailored for institutional trading environments, built on a secure and regulatory-compliant foundation.
The pilot aims to meet increasing institutional demand for tokenized collateral solutions by providing secure segregation, regulatory alignment, and custody with a globally systemically important bank. It reflects growing interest in using digital assets within traditional financial workflows and may serve as a blueprint for broader adoption of blockchain-based instruments in institutional markets.
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