Our weekly list of announcements about how capital markets and regulators are engaging with digital assets.
The Block: Franklin Templeton proposes tokenized government money market fund on Stellar Network
Franklin Templeton Investments, ($700+ billion AuM), has filed a preliminary prospectus with the SEC for a government money market fund whose shares will be tokenized on the Stellar network. The fund will invest at least 99.5% of its assets under management in government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements that are fully collateralized by government securities or cash. The filing also notes that the fund will not invest in cryptocurrencies.
In a statement shared with The Block, Franklin Templeton stated that it “believes that blockchain technologies have the possibility to knit traditional asset management products and services closer to transactional payments” and that “a registered money market fund that is backed by hard assets and registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, with its shares existing as native digital assets on a blockchain and held in a digital wallet, can be an ideal stable digital asset to be used in the new economy. ”
Hong Kong custodian launches digital asset pension plan
Hong Kong-licensed Legacy Trust is launching the world’s first digital asset pension plan; a voluntary pension plan available to employers and the self-employed, where the contributions and underlying asset portfolio can include digital assets alongside fiat currencies.
The digital asset pension is structured as a non-vested trust, it’s fully compliant with Hong Kong regulations and it’s available to members residing anywhere in the world, provided that they are gainfully employed. The pension is funded by voluntary contributions made by an employee, employer or deducted directly from a salary, on a frequency of their choice. It is then paid out when the member retires, or to their beneficiaries should they pass.
Legacy Trust’s CEO Vincent Chok noted that it’s expected to appeal to businesses who are active in the digital assets space, and who want to offer additional benefits to their employees. In addition, long-term digital asset investors are also expected to find the offering attractive as the time horizon for makes the pension suitable for inclusion in a mixed-portfolio or provides a solely digital-asset pension.
The new product addresses various tax concerns for digital assets holders, and eliminates the temptation to sell during price dips thanks to limitations on accessing the capital assets. Legacy Trust, founded in 1992, was initially established as a traditional pension and family trustee, so it brings a quarter-century of experience and expertise in providing institutional-grade service and security to the emerging space of digital assets.
Legacy recently collaborated with Ledger on an institutional-grade digital asset storage solutions – Ledger Vault – and offers custody to TrustToken’s TrueHKD stablecoin reserves.