Franklin MF Adds Arbitrum Blockchain
A press release titled, "Franklin Templeton Money Market Fund Launches on Arbitrum Blockchain," which states, "The Arbitrum Foundation and global asset manager Franklin Templeton ... announced the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) is available on Arbitrum, the leading Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. Investors can gain exposure to FOBXX in digital wallets through the Benji Investments platform, Franklin Templeton's proprietary blockchain-integrated recordkeeping system, and may use the Arbitrum network upon request and subject to eligibility. The collaboration will accelerate the integration of decentralized finance within traditional financial services. By onboarding the Arbitrum network to the Benji Investments platform, Franklin Templeton will further extend the compatibility of FOBXX within the digital assets ecosystem and reach a previously untapped audience for the asset manager." Steven Goldfeder, CEO and Co-Founder of Offchain Labs -- core contributors to Arbitrum -- comments, "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." The release explains, "`Since 2018, Franklin Templeton Digital Assets has been building blockchain-based technology solutions, running node validators, and developing a wide range of investment strategies. The firm's dedicated digital assets research team leverages fundamental 'tokenomic' analysis, insights from an embedded data science team and deep industry connections to help inform product development and investment decisions." Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton Head of Digital Assets, adds, "Expanding into the Arbitrum ecosystem is an important step on our journey to empower our asset management capabilities with blockchain technology. We are enthusiastic about the opportunities this partnership will unlock for our firm and our clients." Finally, they say, "FOBXX was introduced in 2021 and is the first and only U.S.-registered fund to use a public blockchain as the system of record to process transactions and record share ownership. Individual investors can download the Benji Investments mobile app on Apple and Android devices, while institutional investors can access the platform through the Benji Institutional web portal." For more, see these Crane Data News articles: "Fidelity Intl Tokenizes MF, Paxos" (6/14/24), "J.P. Morgan on Weekly Holdings, Treasury Repo Clearing; Fitch; OnChain" (5/2/24), "European Money Fund Symposium London, Sept. 19-20; Tokenized MMFs" (4/25/24), "CoinDesk on Tether Stablecoin; Paxos" (2/5/24), "Forbes: SEC Targets PayPal Stablecoin" (11/13/23), "J.P. Morgan on Stablecoin Shrinkage, Risks; Bloomberg, WSJ and NY Fed" (9/28/23), "CNBC on PayPal, Paxos' Stablecoin" (8/10/23) and "NY Fed on 'Runs on Stablecoins'" (7/19/23).
