Franklin Templeton Expands FOBXX Tokenized Money Fund to Solana
Franklin Templeton has expanded its US Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) to the Solana blockchain.
As the third-largest tokenized money market fund with a $594 million market cap, FOBXX's presence on Solana signals increasing institutional interest in blockchain technology.
The fund, which has 544 holders, is already available on Ethereum, Coinbase’s Base, Aptos, and Avalanche as of last year. Stellar serves as the fund’s primary blockchain.
FOBXX invests 99.5% of its total assets in US government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements fully collateralized by US government securities or cash. The fund offers a 4.55% APY.
A recent report by Pantera Capital highlighted that over 90% of new tokens appearing on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) now originate on Solana, a significant increase from just 1% in late 2023.
The tokenized money fund sector saw 415% growth in 2024 with a market cap of almost $4 billion at the end of last year.
Franklin Templeton has been bullish on Solana since July 2024. "Besides Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are other exciting and major developments that we believe will drive the crypto space forward," the asset manager said at the time.
"Solana has shown major adoption and continues to mature, overcoming technological growing pains and highlighting the potential of high-throughput, monolithic architectures."
However, Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for tokenization efforts, commanding a 52% market share with $3.8 billion in tokenized real-world assets. Solana ranks seventh with $135 million in tokenized assets.
Nonetheless, Solana’s momentum is growing, with platforms like Securitize expanding their offerings—including BlackRock’s BUIDL—to the network in January.
Franklin Templeton is also the latest asset manager to join the Solana ETF race after filing its registration documents for a Franklin Solana Trust in Delaware with the US Security Exchange Commission (SEC).
The CSC Delaware Trust Company, which also registered crypto trust products for other asset managers, helped Franklin to form its Franklin's Solana Trust.