Franklin Templeton, a prominent player in the investment management sphere with a portfolio exceeding $1.4 trillion, has recently broadened the reach of its tokenized U.S. treasuries fund—known as the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX)—to include the Aptos blockchain, which operates on the Move programming language.
The FOBXX fund is a regulated offering under the Investment Company Act of 1940, focusing on investing a minimum of 99.5% of its assets in government-backed securities and financially secure instruments. With this latest addition, Aptos joins four other blockchain networks—Avalanche, Arbitrum, Stellar, and Polygon—as part of the FOBXX ecosystem.
This strategic move is seen as a pivotal moment in the convergence of traditional finance with decentralized technologies. Notably, Franklin Templeton has also been active in the exchange-traded fund space, launching various successful spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs this past year.
Despite this expansion announcement, the Aptos (APT) token experienced a slight decline of approximately 1% within the last 24 hours, pricing at $7.76 at the time of reporting.
Why Choose Aptos?
According to Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton’s Head of Digital Assets, the firm’s choice to embrace Aptos stemmed from its strong compatibility with their Benji blockchain-integrated system.
He is quoted stating:
“We chose the Aptos Network due to its distinctive characteristics, aligning with our strict suitability standards for the Benji platform.”
Since its debut in October 2022, Aptos has quickly made a name for itself, ranking among the top 25 digital assets by market capitalization, per CoinMarketCap statistics.
The platform has also demonstrated robust user engagement, recently reaching a daily transaction volume of over 3 million. Additionally, it showcases more than $545 million in total value locked within its DeFi ecosystem, according to data from DeFillama.
Understanding FOBXX
FOBXX represents a digital investment vehicle that facilitates allocations into U.S. government securities, cash holdings, and repurchase agreements.
Initiated in 2021, FOBXX was the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to leverage blockchain technology, initially utilizing the Stellar network. Its shares are tokenized through the BENJI token, ensuring their value remains consistent.
Investors have the capability to acquire FOBXX shares and manage them via digital wallets through Franklin Templeton’s Benji Investments mobile application.
Currently, the fund boasts over $435 million in assets under management, positioning it as the second-largest tokenized fund globally, according to rwa.xyz data.
Looking ahead, the firm has indicated plans to extend its mutual fund offerings to the Solana blockchain in the future.