Originally published on: October 31, 2024
Franklin Templeton is making waves in the crypto world by launching its tokenized money fund, the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network. This move marks a significant milestone for the asset manager as it becomes the first tokenized fund to join Base.
Originally created in 2021, FOBXX has previously been launched on various blockchain networks, including Stellar, Polygon, and Arbitrum. What sets Franklin Templeton apart from other tokenized fund managers is its innovative approach to reporting requirements. The company outsources a significant portion of reporting tasks to blockchain networks’ public ledgers, streamlining processes and enhancing transparency.
Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets, highlighted the importance of using public distributed ledger technologies for official transaction record-keeping. This forward-thinking approach has caught the attention of United States regulators, who have approved Base’s public ledger as a legitimate instrument for financial recordkeeping.
Money funds like FOBXX offer investors a low-risk opportunity to earn yields by investing in highly liquid assets such as short-dated Treasury bills and commercial paper. Currently boasting approximately $435 million in net assets and generating annualized returns of around 4.7%, FOBXX is accessible through Franklin Templeton’s Benji Investments platform.
This latest move by Franklin Templeton to launch FOBXX on Base is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to make tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) more accessible to investors. Base has quickly risen to prominence as Ethereum’s second most popular layer-2 scaling solution, with a total value locked (TVL) of approximately $8 billion.
With the global market for tokenized RWAs estimated at $30 trillion, the demand for products like FOBXX is skyrocketing. Competing with the likes of BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, Franklin Templeton is paving the way for a new era of investment opportunities in the crypto space.
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