Franklin Templeton and MoonPay Partner to Scale On-Chain Capital Markets

@FTDA_US and @MoonPay have announced a strategic partnership that links Franklin Templeton's BENJI tokenized money market fund with MoonPay's institutional on-chain trading infrastructure, giving eligible institutions a direct, regulated route between stablecoins and yield-bearing fund exposure.

How the Integration Works

The technical integration merges Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform with MoonPay's enterprise-focused on-chain execution capabilities. The arrangement facilitates exchanges between popular stablecoins $USDC and $USDT and Franklin Templeton's blockchain-based money market fund. The MoonPay integration adds a practical channel for institutions that already hold stablecoins but want regulated yield products with 24/7 access.

MoonPay Trade, launched in May after the integration of Decent.xyz, gives banks, fintechs and enterprises one route into digital assets, stablecoin liquidity and tokenized products across more than 200 blockchains and protocols. MoonPay Trade serves as the execution arm for MoonPay Institutional, the company's business focused on regulated financial firms and led by former acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham.

Franklin Templeton's Broader Tokenization Push

The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund was incepted in 2021 and is the first and only U.S.-registered mutual fund to leverage a public blockchain as the system of record to process transactions and record share ownership. BENJI became one of the earliest examples of a regulated tokenized fund and helped pave the way for today's tokenized Treasury market, which has grown to roughly $15 billion, with BlackRock, JPMorgan and Fidelity entering the space.

Franklin Templeton has been broadening its infrastructure push through tokenized fund distribution, a new Franklin Crypto division and the acquisition of crypto investment firm 250 Digital. Notable collaborations also encompass agreements with Payward, the entity behind Kraken, and Binance, which seek to position BENJI across trading platforms, collateral frameworks and corporate treasury functions.

The partnership reflects a wider industry shift. Tokenized real-world assets, which are blockchain-based versions of stocks, bonds and funds, now exceed $33 billion in market value, tripling in a year, according to RWA.xyz data. Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton's head of innovation and digital assets, described 2026 as "the year of the universal liquidity layer," where stablecoins, tokenized funds and digital money become easier to use across trading, lending and collateral markets.

Sources:
Franklin Templeton Taps MoonPay to Bring Stablecoin Cash Into Tokenized Funds – Yahoo Finance
MoonPay Expands Into Tokenized Assets and DeFi Markets With New Platform for Banks – CoinDesk
Payward and Franklin Templeton Announce Strategic Collaboration – Business Wire