Vanguard and Wellington processed tokenised money-market fund shares through Nasdaq’s existing Calypso collateral system. CIMB used tokenised deposits to settle MYR 1.38 billion ($342.6 million) of tokenised sukuk, while Coinbase launched tokenised US stocks under Abu Dhabi regulatory oversight.

Elsewhere, LCH cleared its first Polish overnight index swaps and ASX introduced Australia’s first exchange-traded bond and credit index futures. The SEC sent proposed crypto custody changes to the White House, while FTSE Russell extended its 21Shares benchmark partnership to seven US-listed crypto funds.

Read more on the week’s key developments:

1. Vanguard and Wellington test tokenised money-market fund collateral via Nasdaq Calypso

Vanguard and Wellington Management tested using tokenised money-market fund shares as collateral on the Canton Network, technology provider Digital Asset said on 24 August. The trial tokenised the fund shares through Nasdaq and processed them via Nasdaq’s existing Calypso collateral management system, placing them in the same collateral pool as traditional instruments rather than a separate digital workflow. Margin calls, eligibility checks and post-trade updates all ran through Vanguard’s and Wellington’s existing systems.

This is a test, not a production deployment: neither firm disclosed trade size, frequency, or whether either intends to use tokenised collateral routinely. The genuine news is what didn’t change. Vanguard and Wellington used their existing margin, eligibility and post-trade processes unmodified, which is the actual obstacle collateral tokenisation has struggled to clear industry-wide, more than the tokenisation itself.

2. CIMB completes Malaysia’s first tokenised sukuk settlement using tokenised deposits

CIMB Group, through CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, completed what it called Malaysia’s first tokenised deposit settlement of tokenised sukuk on 27 August, part of a RM1.68 billion ($417.1 million) issuance under its RM10 billion ($2.5 billion) Senior Sukuk Wakalah Programme. RM1.38 billion ($342.6 million) was tokenised and subscribed by 12 institutional investors; the remaining RM300 million ($74.5 million) was conventional. The pilot ran inside Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Digital Asset Innovation Hub sandbox, and CIMB said the tokenisation left the sukuk’s economic and Shariah structure unchanged.

Keeping the tokenised sukuk and deposits on the same ledger established the capability for atomic settlement within the controlled pilot. It did not test interoperability across different banks, platforms or ledgers. CIMB has also not disclosed comparative findings on settlement time, manual processing or costs, while operating the conventional and tokenised portions involved additional work. The pilot therefore demonstrates settlement capability, but not yet the economics or scalability of wider adoption.

3. Coinbase launches tokenised US stocks on its Base network

Coinbase began trading tokenised versions of Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet shares on its Base blockchain on 24 August, with more stocks to follow. The tokens are 1:1 backed by shares held by regulated broker-custodian Alpaca in a bankruptcy-remote structure, operate under Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) oversight following Coinbase’s tokenisation hub there, and are available only to eligible investors outside the United States. Chainlink supplies the price feeds.

The ADGM structure provides Coinbase with a regulated route for distributing the products outside the US, where they are not currently available to investors. Kraken and Binance are pursuing comparable products, placing the competitive focus on liquidity, custody, tracking accuracy and investor protection across jurisdictions. The underlying US-listed shares remain the primary reference prices, while liquidity in the token markets affects spreads and how closely the tokens track those shares.

4. LCH clears its first Polish overnight index swaps

LCH SwapClear cleared its first Polish zloty-denominated POLSTR overnight index swaps on 25 August, with Erste Group, ING Slaski and Societe Generale as initial participants. POLSTR, published by GPW Benchmark since June 2025, is the risk-free rate replacing WIBOR in Polish swap markets ahead of restrictions on WIBOR-referencing swaps beginning in early 2027. SwapClear cleared $7 trillion equivalent across 28 currencies in the first half of 2026, with the Polish zloty its tenth-largest currency by volume.

Unlike this week’s tokenisation pilots, this is compliance-driven: the 2027 WIBOR restriction gives Polish-zloty participants a fixed deadline to migrate, not an optional gain, which is why three banks cleared on day one rather than testing quietly. LCH’s move is defensive as much as commercial: the zloty is already its tenth-largest currency, so losing volume to a rival as the market transitions carries real revenue risk. Whether POLSTR liquidity migrates before 2027 remains open.

5. ASX launches Australia’s first exchange-traded bond and credit index futures

ASX introduced what it called Australia’s first exchange-traded Bond and Credit Index Futures on 24 August, built on the Bloomberg AusBond Composite and Bloomberg AusBond Credit indices with Bloomberg Indices. The indices, established in 1989, are tracked by more than AUD 60 billion ($43.1 billion) in assets. The cash-settled contracts trade on ASX 24, aimed at institutions managing exposure to Australian government, semi-government and corporate bonds without trading the underlying securities.

The product is not novel: exchange-traded bond and credit index futures trade in the US and Europe, so this is Australia catching up, not leading, and ASX frames it that way, calling it a globally established structure newly available onshore. The split is structural: ASX supplies infrastructure and clearing, Bloomberg supplies the benchmark, a division of labour mirroring this week’s FTSE Russell/21Shares crypto-index deal, applied to fixed income. Whether volume shifts from over-the-counter bond hedging is the real test.

6. SEC sends crypto custody rule changes to the White House for review

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent proposed changes to its investment-adviser custody rules to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review on 26 August. The proposal would clarify how registered investment advisers and investment companies may hold crypto assets for clients, updating provisions the SEC says have not kept pace with how digital assets are now traded and held. It follows Chair Paul Atkins’ Regulation Crypto Assets proposal from the prior week.

Unlike Regulation Crypto Assets, aimed at token issuers, this rule targets registered investment advisers deciding whether to hold crypto directly or route it through qualified custodians. OIRA review carries no statutory deadline, so adviser custody practice does not change until a final rule appears, and this third crypto proposal in three weeks says more about regulatory intent than about settled policy.

7. FTSE Russell and 21Shares standardise benchmark indices across crypto ETPs

Seven US-listed 21Shares exchange-traded funds, tracking bitcoin, ether, Solana, XRP, Sui, dogecoin and Polkadot, moved onto FTSE Russell’s digital-asset indices effective 27 August, the two companies announced on 26 August. The move extends a partnership already covering 21Shares’ European and Australian products since March 2026. FTSE Russell benchmarks roughly $20 trillion in assets globally; global crypto ETP and ETF assets stood at over $106 billion as of 31 July 2026.

Nothing about the underlying funds changes: 21Shares confirmed custodians, structures, listings and fees are unchanged, only the index methodology is new. The move standardises benchmark methodology and governance across 21Shares products in the US, Europe and Australia. The announcement does not show that the transition will increase investor demand, liquidity or assets under management.

8. HashKey Exchange brings Franklin Templeton’s tokenised Treasury fund to Asia

Professional investors in Asia gained access to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (grBENJI) on 24 August, after Franklin Templeton and HashKey Exchange enabled distribution through HashKey’s Hong Kong platform, which holds Type 1 and Type 7 licences from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Tokenised US Treasury and money-market funds have grown roughly fifteenfold over two years to about $15 billion industry-wide; Franklin Templeton manages $1.8 trillion globally.

Franklin Templeton already runs the fund; what is new is a regulated Hong Kong distribution channel, positioned on HashKey’s yield-generating “Earn Channel.” Neither firm disclosed how much of the $15 billion industry total will flow through HashKey rather than existing US channels, so the launch demonstrates access, not yet demand from Asia’s professional investors.

9. Clear Street launches electronic execution across Europe and Asia-Pacific

Clear Street launched electronic execution services across Europe and Asia-Pacific on 25 August, its first electronic-execution offering outside the Americas. The platform covers primary exchanges in 22 European markets plus dark venues, systematic internalisers and periodic auction books. It is also live in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, with South Korea and Taiwan expected within months. Clear Street offers overnight smart order routing for US equities between 8pm and 4am US Eastern time as part of its existing 24/6 framework.

Clear Street discloses no client names, trade volumes or revenue from the new coverage, so the launch proves market access, not client uptake. The real competitive question is whether a relatively young, cloud-native prime broker can win order flow in markets where Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS already have decades of local execution relationships and regulatory licences.

10. Granite Asia closes Pan-Asia private credit fund above its $500 million target

Granite Asia’s Libra Hybrid private credit fund closed above its $500 million target, the firm announced on 25 August, with DBS Private Bank and a major insurer joining existing backers Temasek’s Aranda Principal Strategies, Khazanah Nasional Berhad and the Indonesia Investment Authority. The fund has completed eight privately sourced deals and two exits since its 2025 launch, targeting the expansion, supply-chain and technology capital needs of mid-market Asian companies across manufacturing, consumer and healthcare.

The notable shift is the investor base: DBS Private Bank’s presence means wealthy private-banking clients, not only sovereign and institutional limited partners, are now funding Asian mid-market private credit, a distribution channel Western managers have used for years but Asian platforms have only recently opened.