Franklin Templeton and SWIFT say the future of banking is 24/7 and natively on-chain

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Franklin Templeton and SWIFT say the future of banking is 24/7 and natively on-chain Tokenized funds and deposits are edging toward the mainstream, though regulation, infrastructure and security remain obstacles. By Jamie Crawley , AI Boost | Edited by Nikhilesh De Feb 11, 2026, 11:39 a.m. Make us preferred on Google (l-r) Chetan Karkhanis of Franklin Templeton, Jean-Francois Rochet of Ledger, Devendra Verma of Swift, Nik De of CoinDesk: Consensus Hong Kong 2026 (CoinDesk) What to know : Asset managers are putting money market funds on-chain to enable 24/7 liquidity and lower servicing costs. Swiftis building infrastructure to connect CBDCs and digital bank liabilities to global payment rails. Regulatory consistency and institutional-grade key management are critical for broader adoption. In this article BTC BTC $ 67,016.00 ◢ 2.17 % XRP XRP $ 1.3687 ◢ 3.90 % ETH ETH $ 1,951.24 ◢ 2.55 % Tokenized money market funds and digital bank deposits are shifting from experimental pilots to early-stage financial infrastructure, executives from Franklin Templeton, SWIFT and Ledger said Wednesday Consensus Hong Kong 2026 . “Take traditional, existing financial instruments, make them cheaper, better faster, by putting them natively on chain,” said Franklin Templeton’s Chetan Karkhanis. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The asset manager has focused on tokenizing money market funds, a roughly $10 trillion global asset class composed of short-term Treasuries and repos. By issuing fund shares natively on-chain and making them accessible via self-custody wallets or exchanges, Franklin Templeton aims to deliver 24/7 liquidity and reduce operational costs such as shareholder servicing fees, which can range from five to 15 basis points. From the banking side, SWIFT is exploring how tokenized deposits — digital representations of bank liabilities — could modernize payments without disrupting balance sheets. “You have fiat balances that banks have on their balance sheet… but as they move on the new digital form of value, the tokenized deposits represent these on chain,” said Devendra Verma of SWIFT's digital assets unit. SWIFT, which connects more than 11,500 institutions globally, is building a blockchain-based orchestration layer designed to interoperate with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized deposits and other regulated digital assets. While 75% of SWIFT payments already reach beneficiaries within 10 minutes, Verma said the ambition is to eliminate cut-off times and holiday delays in favor of “24/7, all time availability.” Yet adoption remains modest relative to global capital markets. Karkhanis noted that roughly $300 billion in stablecoins and about $40 billion in tokenized treasuries and other real-world assets are now on-chain — “a drop in the ocean” compared with more than $200 trillion in global wealth. Regulation is a key constraint. “Regulatory clarity is very, very important,” Verma said, pointing to the need for consistent standards around accounting, compliance and balance sheet treatment before institutions scale more aggressively. Security and governance are another friction point. “How do we do that securely? With trust, with confidence, is the key question,” said Ledger’s Jean-François Rochet, arguing that managing private keys and institutional controls remains a cultural and technical hurdle. Despite crypto’s origins in disintermediation, the panelists said the future is likely hybrid. “You can have it both ways,” Karkhanis said, suggesting decentralized access and traditional intermediaries will coexist. Some intermediaries may fall away, Rochet added, but those that remain will need to justify their role in a redesigned financial stack. Consensus Hong Kong 2026 Franklin Templeton SWIFT Ledger Tokenization AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Joe Lubin claims DeFi is as safe as traditional finance, adding that bitcoin is in crisis By Oliver Knight | Edited by Nikhilesh De 22 minutes ago During an interview at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Joseph Lubin argued that "blue chip" decentralized finance has reached parity with traditional banking. 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