Wall Street Tries to Stay Awake: Franklin & Ondo Tokenize ETFs for Your Non-Custodial Pleasure

Global asset management titan Franklin Templeton has linked arms with real-world asset (RWA) tokenization shop Ondo Finance to cook up on-chain versions of five of its exchange-traded funds. The menu includes a high-yield corporate ETF, a focused growth ETF, and a "responsibly sourced" gold ETF—for the ethically-minded whale who wants to feel good about their bag. These new tokens will be issued directly on Ondo's Global Markets platform.

Because these tokens live on-chain, investors can ape in, paper-hand out, or simply HODL them 24/7 directly from their self-custody wallets. No more waiting for some suit in New York to finish his coffee and open the traditional markets. The tokens grant economic exposure to the underlying securities—not the paper shares themselves—and can be used as collateral or plugged into DeFi apps for that sweet, sweet yield farming.

Ondo Global Markets, which has stacked over $620 million in total value locked since it launched last autumn, will provide liquidity via its market makers. This means you can trade your tokenized gold ETF at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, because the crypto markets never sleep, even if your portfolio sometimes makes you want to. Access is currently geo-fenced to non-U.S. residents, with the initial rollout targeting degens and traditional investors across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Franklin Templeton's dive into the tokenization pool isn't its first lap. Back in 2021, it debuted the Franklin On-Chain U.S. Government Money Fund on Stellar, later deploying it across a multi-chain barrage including Ethereum, Polygon, Aptos, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Solana, and Base. The firm, which now babysits a cool $1.7 trillion in assets, is using this partnership as its latest lever to hoist conventional finance products onto blockchain rails—because even boomers want in on the action.

This play is part of a broader institutional FOMO wave. The NYSE is collaborating with BlackRock-backed Securitize to set standards for tokenized stocks and ETFs, Nasdaq has secured a nod from the SEC for a tokenized securities pilot, and payments giant Visa has joined the Canton network as a Super Validator, aiming to bring privacy-preserving blockchain infra to the very banks crypto was meant to disrupt. The irony is not lost on us.

“The next phase of digital assets isn’t just about trading crypto, but building your optimized financial life on‑chain,” remarked Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton’s Head of Innovation. Ondo Finance President Ian De Bode piled on, stating, “Franklin’s institutional leadership in digital assets makes them a natural fit as we bring tokenized public equities and ETFs to wallet ecosystems globally.” In other words, they're bringing Wall Street to your wallet, whether you asked for it or not.