Animoca Brands and Franklin Templeton have struck a strategic collaboration to bring tokenised real-world assets to NUVA, the Animoca Brands-backed vault marketplace, with the aim of widening institutional access to tokenised investment products.
The tie-up extends NUVA beyond the assets it already offers on the Provenance blockchain, opening it to institutional-grade assets from a broader base of issuers. NUVA was co-incubated by Animoca Brands and Nuva Labs and launched in May 2026 with vaults giving access to assets on Provenance, which held more than USD 30 billion in total value locked as of 24 September 2026.
The market capitalisation of tokenised assets has kept climbing since mid-September, despite the CLARITY Act failing to advance in the US Senate, and large financial institutions are increasingly choosing to partner with established digital asset firms rather than build alone.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “The convergence of traditional finance and digital assets has gone from the theoretical to being a real infrastructure play. Franklin Templeton is a pioneer in tokenizing traditional financial assets, and this partnership allows us to integrate institutional-grade RWAs directly into NUVA’s vault architecture.”
Beyond putting assets on chain
Franklin Templeton, which manages USD 1.83 trillion in assets as of 31 August 2026, sees the next stage of tokenisation as being about how assets are used once they are on chain.
“Tokenization is moving beyond simply putting traditional assets on blockchain rails. The next phase is about expanding how those assets can be accessed, utilized and integrated into increasingly digital investment ecosystems,” said Sandy Kaul, head of digital assets and innovation at Franklin Templeton.
The two firms have also published a four-part, co-authored research series on what tokenisation means for institutional investors, how the market reached its current point and how it is changing the way institutions assess assets and build portfolios.
They plan to look at further areas of collaboration, including the co-design and tokenisation of real-world cultural assets, with more details expected later this year. Animoca Brands, whose portfolio spans more than 600 companies and digital assets including OpenSea, Ledger and Kraken, has positioned itself as an early mover in the space.
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