Japan's SBI Expands Singapore's Tokenization Project with New Pilots

By Sebastian Sinclair

Japan’s SBI Digital Markets has strengthened its role in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian, unveiling new pilots aimed at advancing the use of tokenized securities in global markets. 

In collaboration with leading financial institutions, the SBI Group subsidiary is developing a cross-border framework for tokenized assets, connecting regulated digital asset exchanges across multiple regions to boost liquidity and lower costs.

Through its Fixed Income pilot, SBIDM is creating an international network for tokenized asset-backed securities, covering both initial issuance and secondary trading, the company announced Monday. 

SBIDM plans to release its first structured note, supported by luxury wine assets, in the coming months, followed by products tied to intellectual property and commodities. 

Those securities will be available in both traditional and digital forms to attract a broad spectrum of investors, employing a blockchain-agnostic infrastructure designed to support global transactions, it said.

Meanwhile, the Asset and Wealth Management pilot with UBS Asset Management is evaluating a UBS tokenized money market fund.

Building on last year’s technical progress within Project Guardian, the pilot integrates blockchain-powered automation to simplify fund subscription and redemption processes. 

Enabled by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, smart contracts streamline interactions within the fund while curbing operational expenses—an innovation SBIDM describes as a “fundamental shift” in the $63 trillion mutual fund industry.

It's all part of MAS’s broader vision to promote institutional digital asset adoption under Project Guardian by leveraging both public and private blockchain technology.

Public blockchains are open and permissionless networks where anyone can join, validate transactions, and view the ledger. They’re decentralized, often relying on large, distributed networks for security, as seen with Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Private blockchains, by contrast, are closed and permissioned networks. Access is restricted to selected participants, often controlled by a central entity or group.

SBIDM’s efforts join other significant players in Singapore’s expansion of the region’s tokenization sector under the project, including Standard Chartered, which is exploring digital bond issuance by leveraging tokens from public blockchains Ethereum and Stellar. 

HSBC, in partnership with Temasek, is also testing tokenized sustainable bonds using private blockchains in a bid to maintain compliance with financial regulations. 

JP Morgan, a long-standing Project Guardian partner, has also previously tested tokenized deposits on public and private blockchains, aiming to bolster settlement efficiency in cross-border transactions and tokenized portfolios.

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