Franklin Templeton Taps BNB Chain for BENJI Expansion After Binance Team-Up

Franklin Templeton’s tokenization platform is expanding to BNB Chain, bringing one of the world’s largest asset managers to the Binance-created blockchain.

The asset manager, which has $1.6 trillion in assets under management, said the move would allow Franklin Templeton to use BNB Chain’s “low-cost, compliance ready” infrastructure, while expanding the availability of its products, according to a press release.

The Benji Technology Platform is used to administer shares in Franklin Templeton’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund. The product debuted on layer-1 network Stellar in 2021 and has grown to $732 million since then, according to crypto data provider RWA.xyz.

The money market fund, which is backed primarily by government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements, has 938 holders across eight different blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and layer-2 network Base.

“Our goal is to meet more investors where they’re active,” Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, said in a statement. “Together, Franklin Templeton and BNB Chain will work to deliver tokenized assets with greater utility.”

Franklin Templeton and Binance said in a joint statement earlier this week that the two are working on separate digital asset products that are “tailored to a broad range of investors.” More details are expected later this year.

BNB Chain debuted as an alternative to Ethereum in 2020 under the name Binance Smart Chain. It serves as a layer-1 network and dovetails with opBNB, a layer-2 network, and BNB Greenfield, a blockchain used for data storage.

BNB Chain was home to $12.5 billion worth of stablecoins on Thursday, while registering 2.27 million active addresses over the past day, according to crypto data provider DefiLlama.

BNB changed hands around $1,015 on Wednesday, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The asset’s price has increased 58% over the past year, while hitting a fresh all-time high $1,079 on Sunday, as the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

The network is receiving renewed attention as Aster, a decentralized exchange, challenges Hyperliquid in terms of 24-hour perpetual trading volume. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has praised its recent performance as a “good start.”