Institutional Adoption of Tokenized Assets: What's Fueling It and What It Could Mean for Retail
Jason Dussault
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
This Post is disseminated on behalf of Intellistake Technologies Corp.
Franklin Templeton and Binance just announced something that sounds technical but is actually a big deal: institutions can now use tokenized money market funds as collateral to trade on Binance, without those assets ever sitting on the exchange.¹
For those unfamiliar, Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange — over 300 million users, more trading volume than any other platform.
Franklin Templeton has been around since 1947 and manages $1.7 trillion in assets.² These aren't startups experimenting. These are giants building infrastructure together.
If you're not sure why that matters, let me explain.
The Friction
The Problem
When large institutions want to trade on a crypto exchange, they need collateral — essentially a security deposit that proves they're good for it. Traditionally, that meant parking actual assets on the exchange.
But institutions hated that. And for good reason.
What if the exchange gets hacked? What if something goes wrong and your money is stuck? And while those assets sit there, they're not earning anything. They're just... sitting.
So many institutions stayed on the fence. They wanted exposure to digital assets, but the infrastructure wasn't built for how they operate.
The Solution
Here's what Franklin Templeton just did.²
They tokenized their money market funds through their Benji platform. These are traditional, regulated, yield-bearing investments.
Now, an institution can say to Binance: "Here's proof I own $10 million in this Franklin Templeton fund. Use that as my collateral."
But the clever part? The actual assets never move to Binance. They stay locked in regulated custody with Ceffu. Binance just sees a mirror — proof the assets exist.So the institution still earns yield. Still has collateral to trade with. And doesn’t risk their assets sitting on an exchange.
As Catherine Chen, Head of VIP & Institutional at Binance, put it:
"Partnering with Franklin Templeton to offer tokenized real-world assets for off-exchange collateral settlement is a natural next step in our mission to bring digital assets and traditional finance closer together."¹
Why Tokenization Specifically?
So why go through the trouble of putting these assets on a blockchain? Because it solves problems that traditional infrastructure can't.
Settlement happens 24/7. Traditional markets close at 4pm. Blockchain doesn't sleep. When you're managing global capital, that matters.
Everything is auditable. Every transaction, every movement, recorded permanently on-chain. No reconciliation headaches. No waiting for statements.
Assets can work harder. As the Franklin Templeton deal shows, the same asset can earn yield and serve as collateral simultaneously. That's capital efficiency that wasn't possible before.
Smart contracts replace middlemen. What used to require lawyers, custodians, and days of paperwork can now execute automatically when conditions are met.
This isn't about crypto ideology. It's about infrastructure that actually works better for institutions managing serious money.
This Isn't a One-Off
At a Consensus Hong Kong panel last week, industry leaders from Mastercard, Robinhood, and Animoca Brands discussed where tokenized real-world assets are heading.³ The consensus was clear: RWAs have moved from hype to genuine utility for institutions.
BlackRock's COO Rob Goldstein called digital ledgers
"the most exciting development in finance since double-entry bookkeeping 700 years ago."³
That's not a throwaway quote. Double-entry bookkeeping underpins every financial system on the planet.
And we're seeing the momentum. BlackRock's BUIDL fund. Tokenized treasuries. Stablecoin integrations. The infrastructure is being built in real time — and at Intellistake, this is exactly the kind of structural shift we've been positioning for.
Today, tokenized RWAs remain mostly institutional territory. Money market funds, treasuries, collateral optimization. The retail wave hasn't hit yet — the Consensus panel noted that few attendees even held tokenized assets in their wallets.³
But that's always how it works. Institutions build the rails. Retail follows once the friction disappears.
What Comes Next
The next frontier? Tokenized equities. Private credit. Real estate. Art. Private equity. Assets that have traditionally been illiquid, inaccessible, or locked behind high minimums.
The pattern is becoming clear. Traditional finance isn't fighting tokenization anymore — it's adopting it. When a 78-year-old asset manager with $1.7 trillion starts issuing tokenized funds as collateral on a crypto exchange, that's not experimentation. That's infrastructure.
And infrastructure is what we focus on at Intellistake. Not the hype cycles. Not the speculation. The rails that make this work.
The collateral problem just got solved. And it took tokenization to do it.
Disclaimer
There has been significant volatility in digital assets and their value can decline rapidly, which in turn would lead to a decline in the stock price of companies holding digital assets. Intellistake is a start-up that does not have the same access to capital as other larger more established companies.
Intellistake has just commenced operating its business and is at an early stage of development. Intellistake is entering this space by acquiring and operating blockchain validator hardware that supports AI networks and investing in AI-related digital tokens to primarily operate validator hardware.
Intellistake is presently evaluating the regulatory framework for tokenization. Any tokenization will be subject to it being completed in compliance with applicable law, regulatory requirements and terms of any underlying agreements associated with the underlying assets. The actual structure of such tokenization, the assets that would be subject to tokenization, and the associated timeline, have not yet been determined. Intellistake will provide further updates as material developments related to this tokenization strategy occur.
Intellistake is developing custom AI software systems called "AI Agents" for businesses. It recently announced the development of IntelliScope, a newly designed enterprise artificial-intelligence (AI) suite that applies decentralized AI technologies to deliver transparent and verifiable corporate intelligence. IntelliScope, which is in testing, is being publicly introduced as Intellistake's enterprise AI suite, reflecting the Company's focus on advancing practical applications of decentralized AI technologies.
The IntelliScope suite is being developed as a collection of modular AI agents, each intended to address specific enterprise challenges. Development has advanced through internal closed testing, where functionality is being refined and validated. Built to leverage decentralized AI technologies developed within the ASI Alliance FET token ecosystem, IntelliScope is now preparing to move into closed beta testing with an enterprise client, a phase focused on gathering feedback to shape premium features and expand real-world use cases.
The Company intends to deliver these solutions either as one-time projects or ongoing subscription services. Revenue is expected to come from implementation fees and monthly subscription payments. The Company does not presently have any customers. Intellistake is just commencing operations. It is targeting significant growth but its business is subject to several risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; the sufficiency of cash to meet liquidity needs; legislative, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the digital currency and general securities markets; the volatility of digital currency prices and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company’s filings with applicable securities regulators. Intellistake has not yet developed or commercialized its AI solutions.
Completion of the Singularity Venture Hub (“SVH”) acquisition remains subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence, the negotiation, and execution of a definitive agreement ("Definitive Agreement") that will include representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, termination rights, and other provisions customary for a transaction of this nature, no objection from the Canadian Securities Exchange, and shareholder approval of SVH, if required.
This report contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events related to the Company that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this report includes, but is not limited to, all statements in respect of the Company's growth and development, the operations and business segments of the Company, support for decentralized AI and blockchain networks, the details of the collaboration with Orbit AI and its expected benefits; the Company’s contributions towards the collaboration with Orbit AI; the timelines for Orbit AI’s operation; and Intellistake’s strategy to support tokenized, decentralized AI infrastructure.
In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "would", or "might" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this report is based on certain assumptions regarding, among other things, the Company and SVH satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; the Company will continue to have access to financing until it achieves profitability; obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; the technology and blockchain industries in which the Company intends to focus its business in will grow at the rate and in the manner expected; the ability to attract qualified personnel; the success of market initiatives and the ability to grow brand awareness; the ability to distribute Company's services; the Company creates strategies to mitigate risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the Company and SVH remain compliant with all applicable laws and securities regulations and applicable licensing requirements; the Company engages and collaborates with local experts, as necessary, to address jurisdiction-specific matters and ensures compliance with foreign regulations to avoid penalties; the Company addresses any potential cybersecurity threats promptly and effectively; the ability of the Company to develop its technology, acquire customers and have revenue; the ability to successfully deploy the new business strategy as a result of the change of business. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, they may be incorrect.
Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; failure of the Company and SVH to satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; failure to raise the capital necessary to fund its operations; inability to create strategies to mitigate the risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the costs of regulation in the digital asset industries increase to the extent that the Company is no longer generating sufficient returns for shareholders; failure to promptly and effectively address cybersecurity threats; insufficient resources to maintain its operations on a competitive basis; and the actual costs, timing and future plans differs expectations; legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the cryptocurrency and general securities markets; the Company may not be able to profitably liquidate its current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on the Company's operations; the Company's success may depend on the continued involvement of key personnel, including advisors, whose involvement cannot be guaranteed; institutional adoption of decentralized AI infrastructure remains uncertain and may not occur at the pace or scale anticipated; evolving regulatory frameworks, including those related to AI (such as Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act), may impose additional compliance burdens or restrict certain business activities; valuation figures are based on publicly available market data and internal assessments at the time of the referenced transactions and may not reflect current or future valuations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; failure to attract qualified personnel, labour disputes; and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.
Although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this report. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update forward-looking information.
