Franklin Templeton CEO questions how rivals tokenize funds

Franklin Templeton said BENJI launched in 2021 through the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, or FOBXX. It became the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain as its official system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership. The product began on Stellar and has since expanded across several public networks.

The structure is more detailed than simply keeping the entire shareholder register publicly visible. An Aug. 12 SEC staff letter states that Franklin Templeton Investor Services maintains an internal system containing private shareholder information alongside blockchain records containing anonymous transaction data. The two sets of records are connected in real time to create the fund’s official shareholder file.

The transfer agent retains administrative controls over the system. According to the SEC letter, it can correct unauthorized transactions or errors, freeze or migrate wallet records and restore the official record when necessary. Blockchain records therefore form part of the official system, while the registered transfer agent maintains control over the shareholder record.

Franklin Templeton’s current Benji site lists deployments across Stellar, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Aptos, Ethereum, Base, Solana and BNB Smart Chain. Retail availability varies from institutional access across the networks.

Johnson’s BENJI cost comparison needs a closer reading

Johnson used processing costs as part of her TOKEN2049 argument. The initial conference report placed BENJI’s cost at $1.13 compared with roughly $150 per transaction using traditional methods. An earlier, more detailed statement from Johnson gives a materially different comparison.

During Franklin Resources’ January 2026 earnings call, Johnson said the firm had compared roughly 50,000 transactions across its legacy transfer agency system and the Stellar blockchain. According to the call transcript, the traditional system cost roughly $1.50 per transaction, while running all 50,000 transactions on Stellar cost approximately $1.13 in total.

That earlier explanation does not support a $150 legacy cost for each transaction. The $150 figure reported from TOKEN2049 should therefore be treated as an unverified conference figure unless Franklin Templeton supplies a separate calculation or methodology supporting it.

Franklin’s second-by-second yield claim is documented separately. The asset manager announced its Intraday Yield feature in June 2025, saying the system calculates proportional yield down to the second when a tokenized security moves between investors. Yield can then be distributed each calendar day, including weekends and holidays.

Benji platform assets have reached roughly $2.6 billion

Current onchain data puts Franklin Templeton’s tokenized operation above the $2.5 billion figure cited earlier in 2026. RWA.xyz listed Franklin Templeton Benji Investments at approximately $2.60 billion in distributed asset value on Oct. 8, spread across four products. The tracker ranked Benji second among tokenized U.S. Treasury fund platforms by distributed value.

The figure should not be confused with the size of the standalone U.S. BENJI fund. RWA.xyz listed BENJI itself at roughly $760.6 million, while iBENJI accounted for approximately $1.71 billion. Franklin Templeton’s conventional fund page reported FOBXX net assets of $686.64 million as of Aug. 31, illustrating how dates and the definition of the wider platform can produce different figures.

Franklin has been putting those tokenized shares into institutional trading arrangements. As crypto.news previously reported, the BENJI collateral rollout on Bybit lets eligible institutions pledge fund shares while accessing USDT or USDC trading credit lines. An earlier Binance arrangement lets eligible institutions use Benji-issued money market fund shares as off-exchange collateral while the assets remain in regulated custody.

The fund has gained another institutional route through MoonPay Trade. In related coverage, crypto.news reported on the integration of BENJI with MoonPay’s institutional trading infrastructure, allowing eligible clients to move between supported stablecoins and Franklin Templeton tokenized money market fund exposure.

SEC relief expands how Franklin funds can use BENJI

A U.S. regulatory development in August gave Franklin Templeton another route for using the onchain fund internally. SEC staff granted no-action relief concerning arrangements under which affiliated Franklin funds could invest in BENJI while Franklin Templeton Investor Services acts as custodian for the shares.

The relief is subject to controls covering authorization, separate blockchain wallets, daily reconciliation, recordkeeping and independent accountant checks. The SEC stressed that the letter represents a staff enforcement position, carries no legal force and does not amount to Commission approval of the arrangement.

Franklin Templeton has used BENJI beyond fund subscriptions and collateral. When the company announced its acquisition of crypto investment manager 250 Digital in April, it said BENJI tokens would form part of the payment consideration. Franklin completed the acquisition on June 22 and established Franklin Crypto with the acquired investment team and liquid crypto strategies.

One claim surrounding BENJI’s original Stellar deployment requires separate treatment. The Stellar Development Foundation disclosed a network state-archival bug discovered in October 2025 that had corrupted 478 data entries. Most were repaired, leaving 84 requiring mitigation by affected protocols or issuers. SDF said the problem was contained by Oct. 10 and resolved by Oct. 23.

The official post-mortem does not identify Franklin Templeton or BENJI among the affected entries, so the 478 corrupted records cannot be attributed specifically to BENJI from the available primary evidence. SDF said it responded by strengthening monitoring, validator coordination, testing, code review and its work with outside security auditors.