Franklin Templeton leads tokenized Treasury issuers with explosive AUM growth in 2026
Franklin Templeton’s tokenized US government money fund has quietly become the biggest story in real-world asset tokenization this year. The firm’s BENJI token, which represents shares in the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), grew from roughly $594 million in January 2026 to over $2.5 billion by July, a pace that makes most DeFi yield farms look sluggish by comparison.
That’s more than 100% year-to-date growth for a product that invests in the least exciting asset class on Earth: US Treasuries.
From first mover to market leader
Franklin Templeton launched FOBXX in April 2021, making it the first US-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain for recording share ownership.
The fund initially lived on the Stellar blockchain but has since expanded to at least seven public networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Solana. That multi-chain approach has been central to driving adoption. Cumulative peer-to-peer transfer volume on the BENJI token exceeded $211 million as of March 31, 2026.
For context, Franklin Templeton manages approximately $1.74 trillion in total firm assets as of April 30, 2026. The BENJI fund represents a tiny fraction of that, roughly 0.14% even at its current size.
Strategic partnerships fueling expansion
Franklin Templeton announced a partnership with DigiFT in May 2026 to improve accessibility for Asian investors. A month later, the firm linked up with MoonPay Trade to facilitate stablecoin swaps into BENJI tokens, allowing investors to move from stablecoins directly into a tokenized Treasury fund without off-ramping to traditional finance first.
On July 1, 2026, Franklin Templeton executed an on-chain Treasury transaction via Tradeweb on the Canton Network. Tradeweb is one of the largest electronic trading platforms for fixed income, handling trillions in daily volume across institutional markets.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
From the Token Frenzy to the $1.3 Trillion AI Server Blue Ocean: AI Inference Computing Power Fully Explodes, Industry Leaders like Dell Usher in the Golden Era of "Volume, Price, and Market Share"
Leading global AI server cluster manufacturers such as Dell are simultaneously benefiting from two major growth dividends: the accelerated expansion of the AI server market and a significant increase in the order shares from core AI cloud computing customers, including large enterprises and new cloud providers. They are not merely passively profiting from hardware price increases.
GPU Cloud Services Surge in Price: Nebius Raises Prices Again by 20%, Computing Power Supply Side Gains Bargaining Power
From October 1st, Nebius will raise prices for its entire GPU cloud service line by approximately 20%, with multiple chips from H100 to B300 seeing increases. This marks the second round of price hikes in recent months, and the cumulative increase for B300 has reached 56%. Demand visibility extends beyond 24 months, with customers eager to purchase Blackwell computing power, even willing to pay a premium in auctions. The supply-demand imbalance for AI computing power is reshaping the entire industry’s negotiation landscape, as bargaining power is quietly shifting to the supply side.
Crypto prices
More
