Written by: Wenser, Planet Daily
On August 13 (Wednesday), Solana's official announcement disclosed the collaboration between CMB International, DigiFT, and OnChain to issue an on-chain fund. The article mentioned: "CMB International will complete the tokenization of its Hong Kong-Singapore mutual recognition fund on the Solana chain, with the token code CMBMINT. Furthermore, this is also the world's first publicly offered fund on the Solana ecosystem chain." Odaily Planet Daily will provide a brief analysis of this matter in this article for readers' reference.
The wave of fund tokenization is coming, with leading funds in the Asia-Pacific region joining the fray.
When mentioning CMB International, one cannot avoid its parent company, China Merchants Bank.
It is understood that China Merchants Bank holds 100% equity in CMB International through CMB International Holdings and China Merchants Yonglong Bank, while CMB International has its subsidiary, CMB International Securities. According to CMB's 2024 annual report, CMB International has total assets of HKD 80.813 billion, achieved a net profit of HKD 1.307 billion in 2024, and has asset management business scale of HKD 130.327 billion, an increase of 14.86% compared to the end of the previous year, completing a total of 38 Hong Kong IPO projects.
On July 14 of this year, CMB International officially obtained approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), becoming the first mainland Chinese bank-affiliated brokerage in Hong Kong to acquire licenses related to virtual asset trading services. This move marks the formal entry of traditional financial giants into the Hong Kong digital asset market, following the upgrades of virtual asset licenses by mainland Chinese brokerages such as Guotai Junan International and Tianfeng International Securities.
Now, CMB International officially enters the RWA field, teaming up with the licensed RWA exchange DigiFT in Singapore and the professional service provider OnChain in the Solana ecosystem, successfully tokenizing its US dollar money market fund on-chain. The historical performance of this fund has been outstanding—according to public data, since its establishment in February 2024 until the end of July 2025, its cumulative return rate has consistently ranked first among similar funds in the Asia-Pacific region. (Note: The return rate is calculated based on net asset value, including reinvested dividends.)
CMB International's cooperation with DigiFT and OnChain combines the technological, compliance, and user experience advantages of traditional financial institutions and on-chain financial service providers, including:
First, the fund has received simultaneous recognition from 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 also the first token product on the Solana chain that is linked to the performance of publicly offered money market funds.
Third, this token product supports both fiat currency and stablecoin subscriptions and redemptions.
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 Recognized Market Operator (RMO) and holder of a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license, while OnChain is a professional RWA service provider within the Solana ecosystem. The cooperation between the two and CMB International is a strong alliance.
Moreover, CMB International's actions may have broader and deeper impacts, significantly demonstrating effects on the development of the Hong Kong digital asset industry, funding flows in inland areas, and the Solana ecosystem.
Subsequent impact analysis: Hong Kong and inland areas flourish, fulfilling the dream of the Solana ecosystem in the internet capital market.
From a regional perspective, the tokenization of public funds by CMB International not only opens up the investment imagination ceiling 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 area for more traditional financial sector veteran funds.
For Hong Kong: Promoting industrial development and attracting investment funds.
As emphasized in the official announcement from DigiFT, "CMB International Asset Management actively responds to the call of the (Hong Kong Digital Asset Development Policy Declaration 2.0) through the innovative practice of issuing and distributing products on-chain via DigiFT for tokenization. This innovative initiative breaks down the barriers between on-chain and off-chain, fully reshaping traditional fund sales, operations, and investment models, allowing 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 funds to enter Hong Kong through the channel of fund tokenization, becoming part of the liquidity in the development process of Hong Kong's digital asset industry; and to some extent, enhances Hong Kong's attractiveness to RWA investors.
For the Solana ecosystem: Promoting significant development in the internet capital market.
Historically, the development focus of Solana's official sources and ecosystem has been centered around the concept of the "internet capital market," and the emergence of CMB International's tokenized fund has added a significant contribution to this concept.
As a leading fund institution in the Asia-Pacific region, CMB International has chosen Solana as one of the important ecosystems for fund tokenization, providing a sample for the subsequent development of RWA in Solana. As mentioned by Solana's official sources and important infrastructure in the Solana ecosystem, Raydium, in tweets and comments: "This is evidence of the capital market on the internet occurring within the Solana ecosystem."
For inland areas: More mainland Chinese bank-affiliated brokerages may layout RWA.
For inland areas, although investors may find it difficult to obtain similar investment opportunities in the short term, CMB International, as a subsidiary of a mainland Chinese bank, has a certain demonstrative effect and may attract more mainland Chinese bank-affiliated brokerages and their subsidiaries to layout the RWA sector.
It is understood that, besides CMB International, there are currently other mainland Chinese bank-affiliated brokerages in Hong Kong, including ICBC International, CCB International, ABC International, Bank of China International, and Bank of Communications International. Following internet giants like Ant Group and JD Group, mainland Chinese banks will also participate in the market competition in the RWA sector.
Conclusion: Fund tokenization is expected to further expand the global investment landscape.
With the continuous development of the RWA industry, the on-chain tokenized products encompassing RWA assets will be further expanded, and the global investment landscape will also be further broadened. As development reaches a certain level, the liquidity of the cryptocurrency industry will deeply couple with the funding depth of the traditional financial sector, allowing efficient utilization of funding 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.
