Hong Kong’s CMB Makes $3.8B Blockchain Power Move: Tokenizes Money Market Fund on BNB Chain

Traditional finance just got a blockchain wake-up call—and it's wearing a Hong Kong suit.

The Institutional Leap

China Merchants Bank's Hong Kong arm just tokenized a massive $3.8 billion money market fund on BNB Chain, proving that when big finance finally embraces blockchain, it doesn't dip toes—it cannonballs. This isn't some experimental sandbox project; it's real assets moving on-chain at institutional scale.

Cutting Out the Middlemen

The move bypasses decades of financial infrastructure in one swoop. Settlement times? Slashed. Transparency? Unprecedented. The traditional fund administration process—normally choked with intermediaries—just got streamlined into smart contracts. Wall Street's paperwork shuffle never stood a chance against cryptographic verification.

Hong Kong's Digital Finance Gambit

While other financial hubs debate regulation, Hong Kong's actually executing. This tokenization play positions the city as the bridge between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance—and frankly, makes other financial centers look like they're still faxing documents. Because nothing says 'financial innovation' like waiting three days for settlement when blockchain does it in seconds.

Funny how traditional finance suddenly loves blockchain once they realize it can handle their favorite thing: billions in assets. The revolution won't be decentralized—it'll be tokenized, regulated, and incredibly profitable.

Growing landscape of tokenization

The move comes as Hong Kong sees growing interest in tokenizing real-world assets, even while regulators in Beijing have asked mainland institutions to pause similar projects. Money market funds tend to be low-risk investments in short-term, high-quality deposits and securities. Tokenized ones are faster to settle and easier for investors to access.

Adam Bai, Head of CMB International Asset Management, said, “By leveraging BNB Chain’s robust blockchain infrastructure—and working with trusted partners DigiFT and OnChain—we can securely and compliantly extend our money market strategies to a broader global investor base.”

BNB Chain’s dramatic growth

In recent times, there has been a continuous surge in BNB Chain’s DEX trading volume. Last week, BNB Chain topped all networks in daily fees and DEX volume at two different times. BNB Chain recorded $7.88 million in daily network fees (the second-highest level in three years) after a memecoin wave briefly led a drastic rise in its DEX volumes.  

The recent popularity of decentralized perpetual trading activity on the network also grew quickly. It is the most used blockchain in October 2025, ahead of well-known ones like Ethereum, Solana, and Tron.

This attention brought major capital inflows for its native BNB token, which reached a new all-time high of $1,370. According to CoinMarketCap, the token is currently trading around $1,190, about 13% below that peak. As per the DeFiLlama, Binance’s stablecoin reserves have risen to $47.7 billion, an increase of over $3 billion since the start of the month.

Also Read: China Renaissance Seeks $600 Million for BNB crypto Treasury