Franklin Templeton launches money market fund on Arbitrum

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

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

Expansion a major step for Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton and the Arbitrum Foundation are collaborating to make the tokenized fund available to investors through Benji Investments, a blockchain-integrated platform managed by Franklin Templeton. Specifically, it will be available through digital wallets on Benji, and eligible investors will also be able to access the fund via the Arbitrum network.

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

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

BlackRock and Ondo Finance

FOBXX launched in 2021 and is a US-registered fund that utilizes public blockchains for transaction processing and ownership records.

According to data from rwa.xyz, FOBXX had a market value of $412 million as of Aug. 8, behind only BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund. BUIDL tops the Treasury products rankings with over $510 million, while Ondo Finance’s Ondo US Dollar Yield, or USDY, comes in third at $299 million.

Franklin Templeton has continued to make significant strides in the adoption of blockchain technology since launching its digital assets unit in 2018. The company currently has validators as nodes and has launched multiple crypto products, including a spot Bitcoin ETF with over $363 million in net assets.