The expansion to the fifth-largest blockchain aims reach more institutional and retail investors.
Global investment giant Franklin Templeton, which boasts $1.6 trillion in assets under management, has expanded its Benji Technology Platform to BNB Chain, the company said on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
Franklin Templeton said the integration with BNB Chain will broaden access to its tokenized products for both institutional and retail investors, according to a press release viewed by The Defiant.
Benji Technology Platform, which comprises the firm’s proprietary blockchain-based technology stack, is used to issue and manage tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), namely investment products. It provides the tech behind the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (BENJI), which currently has a total on-chain asset value of nearly $732 million, per RWAxyz, making it the third-largest tokenized U.S. Treasury fund. The largest tokenized Treasury fund is BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which boasts an on-chain value of over $2.1 billion.
BENJI is currently live on eight blockchains, including Stellar, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Solana, with $467 million of its $731.8 million in total assets on Stellar.
“Our goal is to meet more investors where they’re active, while continuing to push the boundaries of what tokenization can deliver with security and compliance at the forefront,” said Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, continuing:
“Together, Franklin Templeton and BNB Chain will work to deliver tokenized assets with greater utility, and enhanced features for retail and institutional clients across the globe.”
The firm’s move reflects a broader trend among major traditional asset managers using public blockchains to scale tokenized financial products. Meanwhile, the tokenized RWA sector continues to expand, recently surpassing $30 billion in on-chain value – nearly double the amount recorded in January 2025.
BNB Chain, originally developed by Binance, has surged in the past couple of years to become the fifth-largest blockchain by market capitalization, at about $141.7 billion. Its native token, BNB, recently broke over $1,000 for the first time, and is currently trading at $1,018, up 19% over the past month.
Last quarter, Franklin Templeton introduced an intraday yield feature for its BENJI fund – a move that lets investors earn yield continuously, even on short-term holdings.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/tradfi-and-fintech/franklin-templeton-expands-benji-to-bnb-chain