The first regulated tokenised money market fund has been launched in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) through a collaboration between QNB Group, Standard Chartered and DMZ Finance.
The underlying investment in the QCD Money Market fund (QCDT) is managed by QNB Group, the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa, while DMZ Finance is providing the tokenisation infrastructure and acting as co-initiator.
Capricorn Fund Managers has been appointed fund manager while international bank Standard Chartered will serve as the fund’s custodian.
As the first regulated tokenized money market fund in the DIFC, QCDT is expected to be adopted as a mirrored collateral asset by global exchanges, as Real World Asset (RWA) tokenisation bridges TradFi and DeFi.
Silas Lee, CEO of QNB Singapore, said: “The official launch of QCDT, a tokenised money market fund, marks a pivotal advancement using blockchain technology to empower investors to seamlessly integrate high-quality, yield-bearing assets from traditional finance into the digital economy.
“This fund brings the stability of traditional assets such as US Treasury bills and USD-denominated deposits into a digital token, making them more accessible, liquid, transparent and more importantly, ready for use in smart contracts on blockchains such as collaterals for trading credits and loans.”
Rola Abu Manneh, CEO for the UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, added: “With DIFC providing the regulatory framework, this initiative builds on the UAE’s wider ambition to lead in the development of tokenised markets.
“As custodian of the fund’s assets, Standard Chartered is focused on delivering the trusted infrastructure that international investors expect, while supporting the convergence of traditional and digital finance.”
Nathan Ma, co-founder and chair of DMZ Finance, said major institutional clients and listed companies have “come on board” since the launch.
“As the first fund under the QCD umbrella of tokenised funds, QCDT effectively connects exchanges with institutional clients.
“With strict asset segregation and deep collaboration with banking partners, QCDT will unlock significant potential in addressing liquidity needs.”
He added: “As a trusted and powerful RWA infrastructure, DMZ is expanding its global footprint from Asia-Pacific to the Middle East, committed to driving the convergence of compliant tokenised assets across traditional and decentralised finance.”
