Hong Kong’s CMB Tokenizes $3.8B Money Market Fund on BNB Chain

A Hong Kong branch of China Merchants Bank (CMB) has brought one of Asia-Pacific’s money market funds onto the blockchain, issuing it as digital tokens on BNB Chain, a blockchain network originally developed by Binance.

According to the official announcement, CMB International Asset Management partnered with BNB Chain for the project, creating two tokens, CMBMINT and CMBIMINT. The move allows accredited investors to access the $3.8 billion fund digitally through two tokens available via platforms DigiFT and OnChain.

The tokens are part of a growing ecosystem for real-world assets (RWAs) on BNB Chain. Investors can use these tokens in decentralized finance (DeFi) services, such as lending, borrowing, and yield strategies.

The ecosystem connects traditional financial institutions, tokenization platforms, and DeFi protocols to bring real-world assets onto the blockchain with added transparency and traceability.

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.