Franklin Templeton Deploys Liquid Treasury Tokenized Fund Natively to Arbitrum Network
NEW YORK, NY – October 26, 2023 – Franklin Templeton announced today that its Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) is now natively available on the Arbitrum network. This deployment expands institutional access to tokenized liquid treasury investments within a prominent Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem.
The move allows investors to directly access FOBXX on Arbitrum, eliminating the need for bridging solutions from other networks where the fund is available. This native integration is designed to reduce operational friction and enhance capital efficiency for institutional participants engaging with digital assets.
Expanding Access to Tokenized Assets
FOBXX, a registered 1940 Act fund, invests in U.S. government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements. Its tokenized shares represent ownership in the fund, leveraging blockchain technology for record-keeping and transaction processing. The fund was initially launched on the Stellar blockchain in 2021 and subsequently expanded to the Polygon network.
Arbitrum's integration provides a new avenue for institutions seeking exposure to tokenized money market funds. The network offers a combination of scalability, lower transaction costs compared to Ethereum mainnet, and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility. These features support a broader range of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and developer activity, which Franklin Templeton aims to tap into.
“Our expansion onto Arbitrum reflects our commitment to providing institutional investors with diverse and efficient pathways to digital asset exposure,” stated Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton. “Native access on Arbitrum simplifies the user experience and aligns with the evolving demands of the digital asset market.”
Strategic Rationale and Market Impact
Franklin Templeton’s decision to deploy on Arbitrum is part of a broader strategy to bridge traditional financial products with blockchain infrastructure. The firm recognizes the growing demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and aims to position FOBXX as a foundational component for institutional digital asset strategies.
The Arbitrum network, known for its significant user base and developer community, offers a fertile ground for such integrations. By making FOBXX natively available, Franklin Templeton enables direct interaction with the fund's tokens within the Arbitrum ecosystem, potentially fostering new use cases for collateralization, lending, and other DeFi protocols.
This development underscores a trend where established financial institutions are increasingly exploring and utilizing public blockchain networks for asset management. It signals a continued maturation of the digital asset space, moving beyond speculative trading to include regulated, income-generating products on-chain. Franklin Templeton continues to evaluate additional blockchain networks for future deployments based on market demand and technological alignment.
For more information on Franklin Templeton’s initiatives in blockchain integration, visit their digital assets section.
About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 150 countries. Franklin Templeton provides global and specialized investment management, wealth management, and technology solutions to individual and institutional investors. Its expertise spans across various asset classes, investment styles, and vehicles.
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About Arbitrum
Arbitrum is a suite of Ethereum scaling solutions developed by Offchain Labs. It uses optimistic rollups to improve the speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency of smart contracts on Ethereum while maintaining strong security guarantees. Arbitrum One is its flagship Layer 2 network, offering a high-throughput, low-cost environment for decentralized applications.