Aptos’ Bold Moves: Partnering with Franklin Templeton and Expanding in Japan

Aptos Labs has recently made two monumental moves that could each be defining for both TradFi and Web3.  In October 2024, Aptos announced its partnership with Franklin Templeton, and its acquisition of Japan’s HashPalette. These developments showcase Aptos’ ambitious expansion into traditional finance and Asia’s blooming Web3 ecosystem.

Aptos was born from the remains of Meta’s Diem project, which was aimed at launching a stablecoin but was booted eventually. Founders Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, who were pivotal in Diem’s core development team, moved towards Aptos with their Stablecoin development vision. Aptos was officially launched in October 2022, and since then has garnered attention with its features of 130,000 TPS and developer-friendly tools.

Now, the partnership with Franklin Templeton squares DeFi and normal finances by infusing tokenized real-world assets into Aptos blockchain. In turn, HashPalette’s acquisition enables Aptos to cement its foot into Asia in particular, the extremely fast-growing Japanese Web3 market. With these moves, Aptos displayed its clear interest in scaling globally and augmenting the scope of use cases beyond mere DeFi and dApps. 

Bridging TradFi and DeFi with Franklin Templeton

In partnership with Franklin Templeton, Aptos reached a groundbreaking juncture with RWA tokenization making its way onto its blockchain, incorporating Franklin Templeton’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, which has already made waves in using blockchain as a management tool for mutual funds, into the Aptos ecosystem. The fund marks a vital advancement in bridging TradFi and DeFi, mainly by providing users with an avenue to gain exposure to secure blockchain-based financial products.

This collaboration will give Aptos not just the technical abilities but also legitimacy to its blockchain for institutional investors. Aptos could now cement itself strongly as a viable platform for real-world financial applications and to extend its appeal far beyond cryptocurrency traders and developers. This partnership stands on the cusp of more institutional adoption and, therefore, Aptos could very well emerge as the preferred blockchain platform for financial services. 

HashPalette Acquisition and NFT Innovation

The acquisition of HashPalette signifies another pillar of Aptos’ global expansion, particularly into Japan. HashPalette, with its Palette Chain, is a key player in NFT distribution and has contributed to projects like the Indigo digital wallet for the Osaka-Kansai EXPO 2025. With the acquisition of HashPalette, Aptos will have access to a vibrant NFT platform, allowing its stronger foothold in the Web3 space in Japan.

This marks Aptos’ determination to face the challenge of establishing itself in the digital economy across Asia. The NFT experience at HashPalette stands to augment Aptos’ blockchain infrastructure, pushing the latter to further, real-World Web3 adoption, like the Osaka EXPO. Quite clearly, with the integration of Palette Chain onto Aptos, now the very emergence of the blockchain could set alight two of Japan’s five IEO projects, pointing to its sweeping influence in the country currently engaging in a change of its digital orientation. 

By bridging TradFi and expanding into Asia’s Web3 ecosystem, Aptos is poised to become a key player in both the financial world and blockchain innovation.