By
Steve Muchoki
April 18th, 2024
The Franklin On-chain US government Money fund leverages the power of blockchain to offer improved security, operational efficiencies, faster transaction processing, and reduced costs to its customers.
One of the world’s largest fund managers Franklin Templeton, with over $1.4 trillion in assets under management, announced that it would be expanding its on-chain US government money fund to the Polygon blockchain network.
This is good news for the Polygon ecosystem which shows that the blockchain is a trusted platform for some of the top financial players in the market. Franklin started this Money Fund two years back in 2021 while selecting Stellar as the first platform. As per the Franklin Templeton spokesperson, the platform seeks to add support for more networks in the future. Speaking on the development, Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, said:
“Extending the reach of the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund to Polygon enables the Fund to be further compatible with the rest of the digital ecosystem, specifically through an Ethereum-based blockchain. This furthers our distribution reach through a Layer 2 (L2) blockchain that has a proven track record.”
Financial players across the world have started leveraging blockchain platforms for hosting their money funds due to higher transparency and security. In this case, Franklin Templeton Investor Services, the fund’s transfer agent is maintaining the official record of share ownership using a proprietary blockchain-integrated system.
Considering that the blockchain platform operates 24×7, the fund will be available to trade anytime via Franklin’s Benji Investments app. Non-profit organization Stellar Development Foundation has invested a total of $20 million into the fund. So far, Polygon hasn’t commented on this matter.
More About the Franklin On-Chain Money Fund
With the fact that this is a Money Market Fund, it invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in US government securities, cash, as well as repurchase agreements fully collateralized by US government securities or cash. The fund also seeks to provide a competitive yield while maintaining a stable share price of $1.
The use of blockchain technology has helped the fund with improved security, operational efficiencies, faster transaction processing, and reduced costs, etc. Franklin said that this would ultimately benefit the fund’s shareholders.
However, note that similar to other mutual funds, an investment in Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund isn’t guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.