Franklin Templeton Bridges Traditional Finance and Blockchain with Canton Expansion

Franklin Templeton, a leading global asset manager, has expanded its Benji blockchain platform to the Canton Network, a private blockchain infrastructure for institutional finance, according to a Coindesk report. This integration allows the firm to offer tokenized funds to banks, market makers, and trading firms, marking a significant step in bridging traditional financial systems with blockchain technology. The move, announced in November 2025, enables real-time transfers of tokenized assets while maintaining regulatory compliance and institutional-grade privacy, as noted by the Seeking Alpha report.

The Benji platform, which underpins Franklin Templeton's tokenization strategy, now supports the OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), a $844.9 million fund launched in 2021 on the Stellar blockchain, as reported by the Yahoo Finance article. By integrating with Canton, the platform gains access to a network designed for synchronized settlements across sub-ledgers, allowing institutions to use tokenized assets as collateral without exposing trade details, as highlighted in the Coinotag article. Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton's head of innovation, emphasized that Benji's daily yield calculations and instant collateral mobility could outperform stablecoins, which typically do not pass on reserves' yields to holders, according to the Bloomberg report.

The Canton Network, developed by Digital Asset and supported by firms like Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, is positioned as a hybrid "public-permissioned" blockchain. It processes over $6 trillion in tokenized U.S. Treasury activity and $280 billion in daily repo transactions, according to the Coinotag article. Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton's head of digital assets, stated the integration "delivers privacy and composability institutions demand" while maintaining interoperability, as reported by the Prnewswire release. The network's Global Synchronizer technology ensures real-time, confidential settlements, addressing scalability and privacy challenges faced by public blockchains, according to the Coindesk report.

This expansion aligns with broader institutional adoption of blockchain in finance. As Wall Street firms modernize infrastructure under a pro-crypto regulatory environment, Franklin Templeton's move underscores the growing role of tokenized assets in collateral management and liquidity optimization. The firm's Benji platform previously operated on public chains like Stellar and Polygon but now prioritizes permissioned networks to meet institutional needs, as noted in the Bloomberg report.

The integration also deepens Canton's ecosystem, which includes over $396 billion in real-world assets, as mentioned in the Coinotag article. By offering Franklin Templeton's tokenized funds, Canton strengthens its position as a bridge between traditional finance and decentralized markets. The network's native token, Canton Coin, has seen mixed performance post-listings, as reported by the Crypto News article, but the partnership with a $1.5 trillion asset manager signals confidence in its long-term utility, according to the Seeking Alpha report.