The Hong Kong-based subsidiary of China’s leading commercial bank, China Merchants Bank (CMB), has tokenized its $3.8 billion money market fund (MMF) holdings on the BNB chain.
CMB International Asset Management (CMBI) has partnered with BNB Chain to bring the CMB International USD Money Market Fund onto the company’s Layer 1 (L1) blockchain, BNB Chain announced on Wednesday.
The new partnership builds on CBMI’s Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) collaboration with Singapore-based tokenization platform DigiFT, which tokenized the fund on the Solana blockchain in August.
CMBI’s fund launch in BNB Chain comes weeks after online reports that China’s securities regulator was pressuring local brokerages to suspend RWA projects in Hong Kong.
Fund overview
Established in early 2024, CMB International USD Money Market Fund is a sub-fund of CMB International Open-End Fund Company, a public umbrella open-end fund company incorporated in Hong Kong.
The Fund invests primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated deposits and state-sponsored money market instruments in countries and regions such as the United States, Singapore, the European Union, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
CMB International USD Money Market Fund assets under management from April 2025. Source: HKEX
The fund has grown steadily since its inception, with assets under management increasing 24% from $2.9 billion in April to $3.6 billion in August, according to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).
CMBMINT and CMBIMINT tokens deployed on the BNB chain
The collaboration between CMBI Asset Management and BNB Chain is a milestone in introducing RWA into one of the most active blockchain ecosystems, BNB Chain said in an announcement.
“By expanding on-chain distribution, CMB International and BNB Chain are providing accredited investors with direct blockchain-based access to top-performing funds with over $3.8 billion in assets under management,” it added.
sauce: BNB chain
The partnership introduces two tokens, CMBMINT and CMBIMINT, on the BNB blockchain, allowing investors to gain exposure to the fund using fiat currency or stablecoins and redeem their holdings via DigiFT.
The launch also involves OnChain, an RWA infrastructure provider that allows investors to use tokens across multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) applications such as lending and yield.
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Mainland Chinese regulators have reportedly asked Hong Kong brokerages to stop offering RWAs, but it appears unclear whether tokenized CMBI funds are consistent with the local regulatory ecosystem.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority declined to comment when asked by Cointelegraph about the reported pressure from mainland Chinese regulators.
Cointelegraph reached out to BNB Chain for comment on this issue, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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