Franklin Templeton launches tokenized fund on Aptos

The move seeks to enhance traditional and decentralized finance integration.

Key Takeaways

• The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) is now available on Aptos.
• The collaboration aims to increase interoperability between real-world and treasury-backed assets across different blockchains.

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Franklin Templeton is bringing its tokenized fund, the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) to the Aptos network, said the leading asset manager in a recent statement.

Institutional investors can now access the fund via the Benji Investments platform, with the option to hold their digital wallets on Aptos.

Explaining the launch of FOBXX on Aptos, Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, pointed to Aptos’ unique features which meet their high standards for the Benji platform.

“Today’s announcement is an important milestone in our ongoing journey to unlock new asset management capabilities with blockchain technology,” Bayston stated.

The integration is part of Franklin Templeton’s broader strategy to integrate blockchain technology into asset management. The firm aims to enhance the interoperability of traditional and treasury-backed assets across various blockchain environments.

The move also expands the list of FOBXX’s accessible blockchain networks to five, including Avalanche, Arbitrum, Stellar, Polygon, and Aptos.

FOBXX, represented by the BENJI token, is the first US-registered fund to utilize a public blockchain for transaction processing and share ownership recording. It is currently the second-largest tokenized US Treasury fund, following BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), according to data tracked by 21.co.

According to Bashar Lazaar, Head of Grants and Ecosystem at Aptos Foundation, the integration plays an important role in connecting “TradFi and DeFi worlds,” as well as “EVM and non-EVM networks.”

“Integrating the Benji Investments platform with the Aptos Network is a massive step in the right direction and we look forward to welcoming them to the Aptos ecosystem,” Lazaar said.

“We are proud that traditional financial firms are choosing to develop on the Aptos Network and bring the benefits of decentralization to their clients,” Mo Shaikh, co-founder & CEO of Aptos Labs, stated.

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