Franklin Templeton launches money market fund on Arbitrum

Franklin Templeton, a $1.66 trillion asset manager, has announced the launch of its money market fund on Arbitrum.

The Wall Street giant said in a press release that the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund FOBXX is now available to investors on Arbitrum (ARB), an Ethereum (ETH) Layer 2 blockchain. With this launch, FOBXX expanded to three blockchain platforms, after already available on Stellar (XLM) and Polygon (MATIC).

Expansion a key step for Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton and the Arbitrum Foundation are collaborating to bring the tokenized fund to investors via Benji Investments, a blockchain-integrated platform run by Franklin Templeton. Notably, this will be available through digital wallets on Benji, with eligible investors also able to access the fund on the Arbitrum network.

“Franklin Templeton’s commitment to innovation aligns with our mission to provide scalable and efficient solutions for the financial sector. We are excited to see Franklin Templeton join the Arbitrum ecosystem and look forward to the transformative impact their participation will bring to our community,” Steven Goldfeder, co-founder and chief executive officer of Offchain Labs, said in a statement.

“Expanding into the Arbitrum ecosystem is an important step on our journey to empower our asset management capabilities with blockchain technology,” Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, added.

BlackRock and Ondo Finance

FOBXX launched in 2021 and is a U.S.-registered fund that leverages public blockchains for transaction processing and ownership records.

According to data from rwa.xyz, FOBXX has a market cap of $412 million as of Aug. 8, behind BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund. BUIDL tops the Treasury products ranking with over $510 million, while Ondo Finance’s Ondo U.S. Dollar Yield, or USDY, is the third largest with $299 million.

Franklin Templeton continues to take significant steps in the adoption of blockchain technology since launching its digital assets unit in 2018. Currently, the company has node validators and has launched multiple crypto products, including a spot Bitcoin ETF with over $363 million in net assets.