Franklin Templeton Upgrades $380M Tokenized Treasury Fund to Enable Peer-to-Peer Transfers

From my perspective as an outside observer, when Franklin Templeton enables the transfer of fund shares directly between investors, they will be at the forefront of the financial industry. This sector is rapidly embracing tokenized real-world assets, which are now commonplace and characterized by greater transparency, accessibility, and openness.

The significance of this development lies in its capacity to broaden a token’s potential uses in the long run, enabling possibilities such as trading it on secondary markets or utilizing it as security for loans within the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystems.

In due time, we aspire for digital assets running on blockchain technology to function effortlessly within the broader digital asset marketplace, according to Roger Bayston, the head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, as stated in a press announcement.

I’ve noticed an exciting development in the world of finance: U.S. Treasuries are leading the charge to transport traditional bond assets onto the blockchain, a process referred to as tokenization of real-world assets. The market value for tokenized Treasuries has surged to a whopping $1.2 billion as of late, representing a tenfold increase since the beginning of 2023. It seems digital asset investors are eagerly seeking secure returns for their blockchain-held funds.

In 2021, BENJI, the largest and oldest player in the market with a $380 million market capitalization, was launched. However, newcomers such as Ondo Finance’s tokens and BlackRock’s new BUIDL fund with Securitize have gained a substantial foothold, enabling peer-to-peer token transfers. These new entrants are rapidly approaching Franklin Templeton’s market offering.