The latest technology news in the wealth management sector in North America.

Franklin Templeton
California-headquartered investment manager Franklin Templeton, which manages $1.6 trillion in assets, has just launched its OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Solana layer-1 blockchain. This shows the growing interest of big financial institutions in the blockchain features available on Solana, as well as the general integration of blockchain into traditional finance.

Tokenization of real-world assets like US Treasuries is an increasing trend. Franklin Templeton’s first introduction to blockchain was in 2021 when they started FOBXX. 

The FOBXX fund stands out as being secure and stable, investing nearly 100 per cent of its assets in US government securities, cash, and fully collateralized repos. As of January 31, 2025, the fund had $512 million in assets and returned a seven-day effective yield of 4.2 per cent. In the current financial climate, where investors are looking for secure and yield-generating opportunities, this fund presents an attractive option, now made more accessible through the power of blockchain.

“With this development, Franklin Templeton is expanding its layer-1 blockchain footprint as Solana continues to grow its institutional participant ecosystem,” the firm said in a statement.

The FOBXX token, which is available on multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, and Aptos, can be exchanged between them. Franklin Templeton sees tokenizing real-world assets across multiple platforms as a promising investment strategy, reinforcing its commitment to blockchain technology.

The firm has also introduced bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Ethereum ETFs in January, and July 2024, respectively, amidst a fast-growing digital asset market. In addition, it aims to launch the Crypto Index ETF, underlining its commitment in the cryptos area.