Franklin Templeton has integrated its BENJI tokenized U.S. government money market fund and other blockchain-based products into MoonPay Trade, creating a regulated channel for large institutions to swap between stablecoins such as USDC and USDT and a yield-bearing mutual fund.
The move gives institutional participants a direct bridge between traditional securities and onchain liquidity and marks MoonPay’s push into tokenized funds and other real-world assets, beyond its core digital currency business.
How the integration works
Under the integration, holders of Franklin Templeton’s BENJI token can:
- Convert fund positions directly into stablecoins
- Use those proceeds in onchain treasury management
- Provide liquidity and manage collateral
- Rebalance portfolios across blockchain-based venues
The aim is to expand the circulation and practical use of tokenized funds across blockchains commonly deployed in enterprise finance, turning a U.S.-registered mutual fund into a programmable building block for digital capital markets.
MoonPay’s institutional platform
MoonPay Trade, launched in late May, is positioned as an institutional-grade onchain execution platform that offers:
- A single interface to access and trade assets across more than 200 blockchains
- Cross-chain routing and price discovery
- Trade execution and settlement
- Collateral transfers and tokenized asset processing within regulated frameworks
The platform is one of the first major initiatives led by MoonPay’s institutional business head, former acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Pham.
MoonPay’s infrastructure draws on recent acquisitions, including:
- Decent, a cross-chain routing firm
- DFlow, a trading platform
- Sodot, a digital key management provider
These components are designed to underpin liquidity, execution and compliance for institutional clients.
Franklin Templeton’s tokenization push
Franklin Templeton, which manages around $1.68–$1.74 trillion in assets, has been an early and frequent participant in blockchain-based investment projects.
Key milestones include:
- Launching the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (BENJI) in 2021, the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain
- Expanding the BENJI program through new partnerships and tokenization projects across multiple digital finance networks
- Pursuing acquisitions and collaborations aimed at tokenized ETFs and digital securities in regulated markets
By connecting BENJI to MoonPay’s infrastructure, Franklin Templeton is positioning the fund as a liquid, yield-bearing instrument that can move seamlessly into and out of stablecoin form.
Tokenized treasuries outpace stablecoins
The timing of the integration coincides with rapid expansion in tokenized U.S. Treasury markets:
- Total tokenized U.S. Treasuries surpassed $15 billion in May 2026
- The market has grown from just over $1 billion at the start of 2024
- In early 2026, tokenized Treasuries’ market cap grew faster than stablecoins, adding $2.12 billion in the first two months of the year
This sharp growth highlights accelerating demand from institutions for onchain exposure to government debt and other interest-bearing instruments.
Rising institutional focus on tokenization
The Franklin Templeton–MoonPay tie-up aligns with broader institutional attitudes toward tokenized assets:
- A 2026 survey shows 63% of institutional participants are “very interested” in tokenized assets
- 64% of asset managers are looking to tokenize their own funds, up from 40% in 2025
- 67% of institutional firms now view asset tokenization as a key capability to develop
More broadly, tokenized real-world assets reached a distributed value of $33.69 billion by mid-May 2026, underscoring the scale of capital already shifting into onchain formats.
Implications for collateral, liquidity, and strategy
For traders managing digital asset portfolios, the integration changes how collateral can be structured:
- BENJI, as a regulated, interest-bearing mutual fund share, becomes a programmable asset within onchain systems
- The ability to switch rapidly between fund shares and stablecoins supports more dynamic treasury management and automated strategies
- Tokenized, regulated assets can be used as collateral and settlement instruments across protocols and enterprise platforms
The operational focus is moving from simply accessing digital assets to using them in more sophisticated ways, including:
- Real-time portfolio rebalancing across chains
- Liquidity provision using tokenized yield-bearing instruments
- Onchain collateral management that blends traditional securities with stablecoins
How quickly traders and platforms adopt tokenized funds like BENJI as core collateral will be a key indicator of whether this new infrastructure becomes central to digital market plumbing rather than a niche experiment.
Explore how institutions bridge stablecoins and RWAs—learn more about tokenized assets in our digital assets guide.
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