Franklin Templeton Expands Tokenized Money Market Fund to Avalanche Network
Franklin Templeton, a global investment firm managing over $1.6 trillion in assets, has announced the expansion of its pioneering tokenized money market fund to the Avalanche blockchain network. The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), launched in 2021, is now available on Avalanche, marking another significant step in the asset manager’s blockchain initiatives.
FOBXX, which currently has a market cap of approximately $420 million, was the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to utilize a public blockchain for transaction processing and share ownership recording. The fund invests in low-risk U.S. government securities and is represented by the BENJI token, with one token equating to one fund share.
Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, commented on the expansion, stating, “Bringing the Benji platform to the Avalanche network further expands access to our first-of-its-kind tokenized money market fund. We look forward to working with Avalanche’s vibrant developer community to bring new blockchain-enabled innovations into the market.”
The integration with Avalanche follows recent expansions to other blockchain networks, including Stellar, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Investors can access the fund through the Benji Investments app, with the ability to purchase shares using USDC stablecoin and transfer them peer-to-peer on-chain.
John Wu, President of Ava Labs, expressed enthusiasm about the development, highlighting the mutual commitment to developing transformative digital financial products. He emphasized that blockchain and tokenization enable traditional finance to reach people and businesses more easily, offering capabilities not possible through traditional channels.
This move by Franklin Templeton reflects the growing trend of institutional adoption of blockchain technology in financial services. The tokenized U.S. treasuries market has been expanding, with the total value reaching over $1.92 billion as of August 22, 2024, according to data from real-world assets platform rwa.xyz.
