2024-10-02
On October 2, 2024, Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) went live on the Aptos blockchain. Franklin Templeton is a global investment management company that offers a wide range of mutual funds, ETFs, and other investment products.
A money market fund is a type of mutual fund that invests in short-term, highly liquid, and low-risk securities. These funds are designed to provide investors with a safe place to invest easily accessible cash equivalents while earning a relatively stable return.
Money market funds usually invest in:
Treasury Bills (T-Bills): Government securities with short maturities.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs): Short-term deposits with banks that pay a fixed interest.
Commercial Paper: Short-term promissory notes issued by corporations.
According to franklintempleton.com:
“The fund invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in U.S. government securities, cash and repurchase agreements collateralized fully by U.S. government securities or cash.”
This fund, which primarily invests in US government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements, is the first US-registered mutual fund to use blockchain technology for transaction processing and recording share ownership. Each share of the fund is tokenized and represented as one BENJI token, which can be stored in digital wallets.
The Aptos blockchain, known for its unique characteristics and the Move programming language, aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The fund has already surpassed $427.95 million in assets under management.
Franklin Templeton has launched products like the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOGMMF), a mutual fund that leverages blockchain technology to record transactions and streamline the investor experience.
Aptos is a blockchain platform known for its emphasis on scalability, speed, and security.
It provides a blockchain infrastructure that supports such on-chain fund management. By utilizing a blockchain, transactions and fund record-keeping become more transparent, efficient, and secure, reducing the need for multiple intermediaries.
This partnership between Aptos and Franklin Templeton represents an important step in the evolution of "TradFi" (Traditional Finance) into crypto economy.
The Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOGMMF) highlighting integration of real-world asset with blockchain technology.
