Franklin Templeton, a leading investment management firm with over $1.4 trillion in assets, has launched its tokenized U.S. government bond fund, Franklin Onchain U.S. Government Fund (FOBXX), on a layer 1 blockchain powered by the Move programming language. Expanded to one Aptos.
FOBXX is a regulated 1940 Act fund that invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in government securities and other financial instruments backed by government securities. Aptos now becomes the fifth blockchain to join the FOBXX fund, joining Avalanche, Arbitrum, Stellar, and Polygon.
Market participants said the move marks a significant progress in the integration of traditional finance and decentralized networks. Franklin Templeton is one of several Wall Street titans who have successfully launched Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs this year.
Meanwhile, despite the news of the Franklin Templeton expansion, the Aptos APT token is down about 1% in the past 24 hours, trading at $7.76 at the time of writing.
Why Aptos?
Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, explained that the company’s decision to expand into Aptos was based on its compatibility with Benji, the company’s blockchain integration system.
He reportedly said:
“We selected Aptos Network due to its unique characteristics that meet our rigorous suitability criteria for the Benji platform.”
Aptos has gained considerable momentum since its launch in October 2022, growing to become one of the top 25 digital assets by market capitalization, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Notably, blockchain networks have also seen significant uptake, with the daily transaction volume of users recently peaking at over 3 million. Furthermore, according to DeFillama data, the platform boasts over $545 million in total locked in DeFi activity overall.
About FOBXX
FOBXX is a digitized fund that allows investors to allocate funds to U.S. government bonds, cash, and repurchase contracts.
Founded in 2021, FOBXX became the first U.S. registered mutual fund to embrace blockchain, initially powered by Stellar. Its shares will be tokenized and represented in BENJI tokens to maintain equivalent value.
Investors can purchase FOBXX shares using Franklin Templeton’s Benji Investments mobile app and store them in their digital wallet.
The fund currently manages over $435 million in assets, making it the second largest tokenized fund in the world, according to rwa.xyz.
Notably, the company has indicated it will launch more investment trusts on the Solana blockchain.
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https://cryptoslate.com/franklin-templeton-adds-aptos-to-tokenized-treasuries-fund/
