Key Takeaways
Franklin Templeton has expanded its tokenized treasury fund to Solana, making it the eighth blockchain platform for FOBXX.
The firm on Monday registered the Franklin Solana Trust, indicating plans for a Solana ETF in the US.
Franklin Templeton, managing around $1.5 trillion in assets, is bringing its tokenized treasury fund to Solana, the company announced on X today. The launch comes after the asset manager registered its Franklin Solana Trust in Delaware on Monday.
New chain unlocked. BENJI is now live on @solana!
Solana is a fast, secure and censorship resistant Layer 1 blockchain encouraging global adoption via its open infrastructure.
Download the Benji app here: https://t.co/ITah6qMtns
Read more: https://t.co/4j3TDC9VHM pic.twitter.com/3aiODzkK3T
— Franklin Templeton Digital Assets (@FTDA_US) February 12, 2025
The fund, also known as the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, or FOBXX, is now available on eight blockchains, previously including Stellar, Aptos, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Polygon, Base, and Ethereum.
“Solana is a fast, secure and censorship resistant Layer 1 blockchain encouraging global adoption via its open infrastructure,” the firm explained its decision.
Launched on Stellar in 2021, FOBXX has grown to become one of the world’s leading money-market funds.
As of Feb. 11, the fund had around $495 million in market cap, only behind USYC, the on-chain representation of Hashnote International Short Duration Yield Fund Ltd. (SDYF), with a market cap exceeding $1 billion, according to Dune Analytics.
BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which immediately challenged FOBXX following its launch last year, had approximately $394 million in market cap as of Tuesday.
BUIDL previously surpassed FOBXX to lead the tokenized treasury fund market.
Early endorsement
The Wall Street giant has shown ongoing interest in Solana’s ecosystem.
Following the SEC approval of US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs, including Franklin’s EZBC, the firm shared in a series of posts on X that they were interested in the vision of Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana’s co-founder.
Franklin also pointed out key developments in the Solana ecosystem in Q4 2023, such as advancements in DePIN, DeFi, the meme coin market, NFT innovation, and the launch of the Firedancer scaling solution.
The asset manager established the Franklin Solana Trust in Delaware this week, indicating plans to launch a Solana ETF in the US.
The trust’s registration by CSC Delaware Trust Company signals Franklin’s intention to file necessary forms with the SEC to officially introduce the ETF, which aims to track the price movement of SOL, the fifth-largest crypto by market cap.
