Franklin Templeton Connects $270 Million Fund To Polygon

Investment giant Franklin Templeton has announced that its Nasdaq-listed OnChain US Government Money Fund is now supported on the Polygon Network. 

The OnChain US Government Money Fund is the first US-registered mutual fund to process transactions and record share ownership using the blockchain. 

Franklin Templeton is one of the world’s largest asset managers, with over $1.4 trillion worth of assets under management. According to the asset manager, integrating its On Chain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) with the Polygon Network would allow it to be “further compatible with the rest of the digital ecosystem.” In a press release, the asset manager stated that it continues to see greater operational efficiency through the use of a blockchain-integrated system. Benefits include faster transaction speeds, better security, and significantly lesser costs. Additionally, the Fund’s transfer agent maintains an official record of the share ownership using a proprietary blockchain-integrated system. 

The head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, Roger Bayston, stated, 

“Extending the reach of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund to Polygon enables the Fund to be further compatible with the rest of the digital ecosystem, specifically through an Ethereum-based blockchain. This furthers our distribution reach through a Layer 2 (L2) blockchain that has a proven track record.”

Access to the Ethereum ecosystem opens a host of possibilities for investors in the Fund. The Fund is a regulated 1940 Act fund that gives investors a competitive yield, investing at least 99.5% of its total assets into cash, government securities, and repurchase agreements, all fully collateralized by government securities or cash. The Fund aims to give investors a high-income level consistent with preserving shareholders’ capital and liquidity. 

Each Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund share is represented by one BENJI token. BENJI token holders can also get exposure to the app through the Benji Investments App. Speaking about the developments, the Global Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon Labs, Colin Butler, stated, 

“It’s amazing to have a legacy institution like Franklin Templeton bringing transparency, interoperability, and secure, democratized access to their financial instruments, all things afforded with Polygon. When we take a step back and look at these things less as blockchain products and more as benefits created by utilizing blockchain rails, we start to see the ‘why.’ Tokenized assets are going to positively rewire the global financial system, and Franklin Templeton is at the forefront of this movement.” 

He further added that investors would be able to access a $260 billion market, stating, 

“The Polygon blockchain ecosystem spans many L2, sidechains, and sovereign blockchains, and our suite of Ethereum scalability solutions has seen significant adoption across DeFi, NFTs, and enterprises. The Polygon blockchain also provides access to a $260 billion market — the approximate aggregate value of all ERC-20 (Ethereum-based) assets.” 

Polygon is the entity behind the MATIC cryptocurrency, which is the 10th largest cryptocurrency in the market. It acts as a scaling platform for Ethereum, helping make it faster and more efficient. On the other hand, Franklin Templeton has a long association with the crypto space. Stellar, an open-source platform designed to facilitate currency payments, stated that the Templeton Fund is also available on its network. Several other traditional finance companies have also incorporated blockchain technology in their offerings. In 2022, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, and others from Wall Street created EDX Markets, a digital asset exchange. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.