Franklin Templeton
Web3 / cefi
A global investment management firm founded in 1947 and managing over $1.5 trillion in assets as of 2025, which became one of the pioneering traditional asset managers to launch blockchain-native investment products. Franklin Templeton launched the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (ticker: BENJI) in 2021 on the Stellar blockchain, making it the first US-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain for transaction processing and share ownership records. The fund later expanded to Polygon and other networks. BENJI operates as a tokenized money market fund, investing in US government securities and reverse repurchase agreements while recording share ownership on-chain, offering 24/7 transfer capability between on-chain wallets compared to the T+1 or longer settlement of traditional fund transfers. Franklin Templeton's early entry into blockchain-native fund structures gave it a significant head start over competitors, and the firm became one of the most active advocates for tokenized asset adoption within the traditional finance industry.
Example
Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund became the second-largest tokenized Treasury product by assets under management by mid-2025, trailing only BlackRock's BUIDL, having accumulated several hundred million dollars in on-chain assets since its 2021 launch. Its multi-chain presence across Stellar, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Base gave it broader DeFi integration potential than single-chain competitors.
Why It Matters
Franklin Templeton's early and persistent commitment to blockchain-native fund structures validated the tokenized asset thesis before it became mainstream, demonstrating that regulated investment products could operate on public blockchains with institutional-grade compliance. Its presence helped establish the credibility framework that made subsequent institutional entries, including BlackRock's BUIDL, easier to justify to compliance teams and regulators.
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