In a world where digital assets are maturing beyond speculation into core components of institutional portfolios, a revolutionary partnership is setting the stage for the future of finance. It was in early April when OKX—one of the world’s largest and most liquid crypto exchanges—teamed up with banking powerhouse Standard Chartered and asset management giant Franklin Templeton to unveil a game-changing initiative: a collateral mirroring program that allows institutional clients to securely use crypto and tokenised money market funds as off-exchange collateral.
Read-Standard Chartered, OKX roll out crypto collateral pilot in Dubai
This isn’t just another crypto headline. It’s a seismic shift.
Backed by a Globally Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB), the program signals a fundamental rethinking of digital asset infrastructure. It promises what institutions crave most—security, capital efficiency, and credible custody.
“It’s our vision to be the leading institutional platform not only in the UAE and MENA but across every key market where we operate,” said Hong Fang, President of OKX, from a sleek meeting room overlooking Dubai’s innovation district. “We’re building a platform that’s future-proof—and this program is a cornerstone.”
Solving the custody conundrum
The journey to this innovation wasn’t accidental. For years, institutions have hesitated to dive deep into crypto due to one critical challenge: custody.
“For institutions, counterparty risk is non-negotiable. And they need diversification—not one custodian to rule them all,” Fang emphasised. “That’s why off-exchange custody matters. We’re not here to control the process; we’re here to empower it.”
Enter Standard Chartered, a legacy bank with digital ambition. When its digital assets division was launched in 2022 and officially operational in 2024, few imagined just how quickly it would move.
“We’ve been building custody infrastructure across 50 markets for decades,” explained Waqar Chaudry, Head of Digital Assets, Financing and Securities Services at Standard Chartered. “With crypto now gaining institutional scale, our role became inevitable. This partnership with OKX and Franklin Templeton proves that TradFi and DeFi don’t have to compete—they can integrate.”
Franklin Templeton: The visionaries of tokenisation
While banks and exchanges brought infrastructure, Franklin Templeton brought foresight.
Years before “tokenised real-world assets” became a buzzword, they were quietly building one of the first tokenized money market funds in the world—back in 2019.
“We saw blockchain’s power in managing mortgage-backed securities, and the lightbulb went off,” said Tony Pecore, SVP of Digital Asset Management. “Why stop at mortgage loans? We realized: asset management itself could be reinvented.”
Now, Franklin’s on-chain funds will serve as usable collateral in this program—a feat that brings together decentralized innovation and institutional-grade safety.
The hybrid future of custody
The question everyone’s asking: What does the future of digital asset custody look like?
“It won’t be one-size-fits-all,” Fang predicts. “We see a hybrid model—perhaps 50 per cent with regulated custodians, 30 per cent with exchanges like OKX, and 20 per cent self-custody. People still want convenience. Institutions still want accountability. This model balances both.”
And with OKX Pay—a new integrated payment platform that combines Web2 convenience with Web3 sovereignty—that hybrid vision is already taking shape. Users will soon be able to manage investments, spend crypto, and access self-custody, all from one app.
The $300tn prize
What’s at stake? Only the largest market transformation in modern finance.
“The global custody market spans up to $300tn. Digital assets are just getting started,” Chaudry noted. “Our ambition? To become the world’s largest sub-custodian for digital assets. We already serve over 50 countries—we’re not starting from scratch. We’re scaling.”
This isn’t about crypto anymore. It’s about the future of capital markets, built on blockchains, backed by banks, and secured by visionaries.
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