Original authors: Wenser, Odaily
Reprint: Mars Finance, Daisy
On August 13 (Wednesday), Solana's official account announced the collaboration between China Merchants International and DigiFT and OnChain to issue on-chain funds. It mentioned: 'China Merchants International has completed tokenization of its Hong Kong-Singapore mutual recognition fund on the Solana chain, with the token code CMBMINT. In addition, this is also the world's first public fund on the Solana ecosystem chain.'
The wave of fund tokenization is coming, and leading funds in the Asia-Pacific region are entering the market.
When mentioning China Merchants International, one cannot ignore its parent company, China Merchants Bank.
It is understood that China Merchants Bank holds 100% of the equity of China Merchants International through China Merchants International Gold Control and China Merchants Yonglong Bank, while China Merchants International has China Merchants International Securities as a subsidiary. According to the 2024 annual report of China Merchants Bank, China Merchants International has total assets of HKD 80.813 billion, achieving a net profit of HKD 1.307 billion in 2024, with asset management business scale of CNY 130.327 billion, an increase of 14.86% compared to the end of the previous year, and completing 38 Hong Kong IPO projects.
On July 14 this year, China Merchants International officially obtained approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to become the first Chinese bank-affiliated broker in Hong Kong to obtain licenses for virtual asset trading services and related activities. This move marks the official entry of traditional financial giants into the Hong Kong digital asset market following the upgrades to virtual asset licenses by Chinese brokers such as Guotai Junan International and Tianfeng International Securities.
Now, China Merchants International has officially entered the RWA field, partnering with Singapore licensed RWA exchange DigiFT and Solana ecosystem service provider OnChain to successfully tokenize its US dollar money market fund on-chain. The fund has shown outstanding historical performance—according to public data, since its establishment in February 2024 until the end of July 2025, its cumulative return has consistently ranked first among similar funds in the Asia-Pacific region.
The collaboration between China Merchants International and DigiFT, OnChain combines the advantages of traditional financial institutions with those of on-chain financial service providers in terms of technology, compliance, user experience, and more, including:
First, this fund has been simultaneously recognized by regulatory agencies in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
Second, this token product is the first to support deployment on public chains such as Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Plume, and is the first token product on the Solana chain linked to the performance of public money market funds.
Third, this token product supports both fiat and stablecoin redemption.
Fourth, this token product provides real-time redemption for tokens through self-developed liquidity management contracts.
It is understood that DigiFT is the first on-chain digital asset platform recognized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a Market Operator (RMO) and holds a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license, while OnChain is a professional RWA service provider in the Solana ecosystem. The collaboration between the two and China Merchants International is a strong alliance.
Moreover, this move by China Merchants International may have broader and deeper impacts, exerting a significant demonstrative effect on the development of the Hong Kong digital asset industry, the flow of funds in inland regions, and the Solana ecosystem.
Subsequent impact analysis: Hong Kong and inland regions flourishing together, Solana ecosystem realizing the dream of the internet capital market.
From a regional perspective, the tokenization of public funds by China Merchants International not only opens up investment possibilities for professional investors in Singapore but also brings new ideas for investment choices and industrial development in inland and Hong Kong regions; for the cryptocurrency industry, the Solana ecosystem may become a landing spot for more established funds in the traditional financial sector.
For Hong Kong: Promoting industrial development and attracting investment funds.
As emphasized in the official announcement by DigiFT, 'China Merchants International Asset Management actively responds to the call of the (Hong Kong Digital Asset Development Policy Declaration 2.0) through the innovative practice of on-chain issuance and distribution of product tokenization via DigiFT. This innovative initiative breaks the barriers between on-chain and off-chain, comprehensively reshaping traditional fund sales, operation, and investment models, enabling investors to conveniently invest in high-quality financial products in Hong Kong, enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness in the global digital asset management field.'
In other words, this move allows more capital to enter Hong Kong through the fund tokenization channel, becoming part of the liquidity in the development process of Hong Kong's digital asset industry; and has increased Hong Kong's attractiveness to RWA investors to some extent.
For the Solana ecosystem: Promoting the rapid development of the internet capital market.
For a long time, the development focus of Solana's official and ecosystem has been centered on the concept of 'internet capital markets,' and the emergence of the China Merchants International tokenized fund adds significant weight to this concept.
As a leading fund institution in the Asia-Pacific region, China Merchants International's choice of Solana as one of the important ecosystems for fund tokenization also provides a sample for the subsequent development of the RWA sector in Solana. As mentioned by Solana's official and important infrastructure Raydium in tweets and comments: 'This is evidence of the internet capital market happening in the Solana ecosystem.'
For inland regions: More Chinese bank-affiliated brokers may layout the RWA sector.
For inland areas, although it is difficult for investors to obtain similar investment opportunities in the short term, China Merchants International, as a subsidiary of a Chinese bank, has a certain demonstrative effect and may attract more Chinese bank-affiliated brokers and their subsidiaries to lay out the RWA sector.
It is understood that besides China Merchants International, the current Chinese bank-affiliated brokers in Hong Kong include ICBC International, Jianyin International, Agricultural Bank International, Bank of China International, and Bank of Communications International, as well as Shanghai Pudong Development Bank International, which is under a joint-stock bank. Following internet giants like Ant Group and JD Group, Chinese banks will also participate in the competitive market of the RWA track.
Conclusion: Fund tokenization is expected to further expand the global investment landscape.
With the continuous development of the RWA industry, the RWA assets encompassed by on-chain tokenized products will be further expanded, and the global investment landscape will also be further expanded. At a certain level of development, liquidity in the cryptocurrency industry will be deeply coupled with the funding in traditional financial sectors, allowing efficient utilization of capital liquidity, enabling professional investors from around the world to freely participate in fund investments and stock investments in different regions.
At that time, tokenized products will become mainstream in the financial investment field.
