Franklin Templeton is expanding its tokenized fund business in Asia through a new partnership with HashKey Exchange.<\/p>\n
On August 25, 2026, HashKey added the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund (grBENJI) to its Earn Channel for eligible professional investors in Hong\u00a0Kong.<\/p>\n
The launch gives investors access to a blockchain-based version of Franklin Templeton\u2019s U.S. government money-market fund, as demand for tokenized Treasury products continues to\u00a0grow.<\/p>\n
grBENJI is linked to Franklin Templeton\u2019s Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), also known through the BENJI token ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Franklin Templeton launched the fund on April 6, 2021. It was among the first U.S.-registered mutual funds to use a public blockchain for transaction processing and ownership records.<\/p>\n
The underlying investment strategy remains traditional.<\/p>\n
The fund invests primarily in U.S. government securities, cash and repurchase agreements backed by government securities or cash. It aims to provide income while maintaining liquidity and a stable $1 share\u00a0price.<\/p>\n
That makes BENJI different from a stablecoin such as USDT or USDC. BENJI represents an interest in a regulated money-market fund, while stablecoins are primarily designed to maintain a digital currency\u00a0peg.<\/p>\n
Franklin Templeton\u2019s official fund data shows $753.24 million in total net assets as of June 30,\u00a02026.<\/p>\n
The fund\u2019s recent yield has remained above 3%. As of August 2026, Franklin reported a 7-day current yield of\u00a03.56%.<\/p>\n
The figure can change as short-term interest rates and portfolio conditions change, so investors should treat the yield as a point-in-time figure rather than a fixed\u00a0return.<\/p>\n
The fund is part of a much larger asset-management business. Franklin Templeton reported $1.80 trillion in preliminary total assets under management as of July 31,\u00a02026.<\/p>\n
The HashKey launch is currently focused on eligible professional investors in Hong\u00a0Kong.<\/p>\n
Through HashKey\u2019s Earn Channel, eligible investors can access the tokenized fund through a regulated digital-asset platform.<\/p>\n
This is important because Franklin Templeton already has the fund and blockchain infrastructure. HashKey adds the distribution channel in\u00a0Asia.<\/p>\n
In other words, the partnership connects a traditional global asset manager\u2019s tokenized investment product with a regulated digital-asset marketplace.<\/p>\n
The timing is significant.<\/p>\n
Tokenized Treasury and money-market products have become one of the fastest-growing areas of the real-world asset market. Investors can gain exposure to traditional short-term government assets while using blockchain-based infrastructure for ownership and transactions.<\/p>\n
Franklin Templeton has also continued to engage with U.S. regulators over its blockchain-based fund infrastructure.<\/p>\n
On August 12, 2026, SEC staff issued a no-action letter addressing certain custody arrangements involving Franklin Templeton\u2019s OnChain Funds. While the letter does not represent blanket SEC approval for tokenized funds, it shows that regulators are increasingly examining how traditional funds can operate with blockchain-based infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The HashKey launch comes as the tokenized U.S. Treasury market continues to\u00a0expand.<\/p>\n
According to the RWA.xyz data in the supplied research, the combined market for tokenized U.S. Treasury bills, notes, bonds and Treasury-focused money-market funds reached approximately $15.64 billion as of August 24,\u00a02026.<\/p>\n
The market included:<\/p>\n
87 products66,031 holders$15.64 billion in market\u00a0value<\/p>\n
The market was around $6.51 billion in July 2025, meaning it has grown approximately 140% in one\u00a0year.<\/p>\n
This rapid expansion has attracted competition from major financial institutions and digital-asset firms.<\/p>\n
Franklin Templeton is competing with several major tokenized Treasury products.<\/p>\n
BlackRock\u2019s BUIDL, Circle\u2019s USYC, and Ondo Finance\u2019s OUSG and USDY are among the better-known products in the\u00a0market.<\/p>\n
BlackRock\u2019s BUIDL has an AUM of roughly $2.6 billion based on the supplied data, while Circle\u2019s USYC is around $3\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n
Franklin\u2019s advantage is its early start. BENJI launched in 2021, giving the firm several years of experience with blockchain-based fund infrastructure before tokenized Treasuries became a major institutional trend.<\/p>\n
The Franklin Templeton-HashKey launch is less about creating another crypto token and more about expanding access to tokenized traditional assets.<\/p>\n
Franklin brings the regulated investment product and established tokenization infrastructure. HashKey brings a regulated digital-asset distribution platform in Hong\u00a0Kong.<\/p>\n
For investors, the proposition is\u00a0simple:<\/p>\n
U.S. government money-market exposure + dollar-denominated yield + blockchain infrastructure.<\/p>\n
As the tokenized Treasury market moves beyond the experimental stage, partnerships like this could help determine whether tokenized funds become a mainstream part of institutional finance.<\/p>\n
For Franklin Templeton, the HashKey launch marks another step in taking BENJI from an early blockchain-based fund experiment to a broader institutional financial product in\u00a0Asia.<\/p>\n
Why Franklin Templeton\u2019s BENJI Expansion Could Matter More Than You Think<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Franklin Templeton is expanding its tokenized fund business in Asia through a new partnership with HashKey Exchange. On August 25, 2026, HashKey added the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Liquidity Fund (grBENJI) to its Earn Channel for eligible professional investors in Hong\u00a0Kong. The launch gives investors access to a blockchain-based version of Franklin Templeton\u2019s U.S. government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":218238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/218238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}