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Franklin Templeton is partnering with MoonPay to let institutional investors move directly between supported stablecoins and the asset manager's tokenized money market fund entirely onchain. The integration links Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform with MoonPay Trade, creating a pathway for eligible institutions to gain and shed exposure to the tokenized fund without ever leaving blockchain networks.
The deal lands as Franklin Templeton, which oversees $1.74 trillion in assets, accelerates its digital-asset push — including the April launch of Franklin Crypto, a dedicated division anchored by the acquisition of crypto investment firm 250 Digital, and ongoing work to tokenize traditional financial products.
Why it matters
Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton's head of innovation and digital assets, framed 2026 as "the year of the universal liquidity layer," where stablecoins, tokenized funds and other forms of digital money become interoperable across trading, lending and collateral use cases. The MoonPay integration is one of the first concrete expressions of that thesis: an institutional balance sheet can hold cash in stablecoins, sweep into a tokenized money market fund for yield, and exit back into stablecoins without a T+1 settlement window or a wire.
The 24/7 mechanic is the structural break from traditional money market funds, which typically require investors to hold a position through the end of a trading day to receive interest. Tokenized versions can distribute yield pro-rata to the precise holding window — a feature Kaul said institutional clients have been demanding.
Market impact
Kaul said institutional demand for that round-the-clock yield functionality has been "tremendous," though neither firm disclosed volume targets or a launch timeline. The partnership also marks MoonPay's expansion beyond crypto trading and payments into tokenized real-world assets — a category drawing growing interest from regulated institutions looking to migrate investment products onchain.
The move joins a broader build-out addressing the bottlenecks that have slowed institutional adoption of tokenized funds, including long redemption windows.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the Franklin Templeton–MoonPay partnership designed to do?
It links Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform with MoonPay Trade so eligible institutions can swap supported stablecoins for exposure to Franklin's tokenized money market fund and back again without leaving blockchain networks.
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Why is 24/7 yield generation a structural break for institutions?
Traditional money market funds typically require investors to hold a position through the end of a trading day to receive interest, while tokenized funds can distribute yield pro-rata to the precise holding window — enabling round-the-clock returns on cash-equivalent balances.
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How does this fit Franklin Templeton's broader digital-asset strategy?
Franklin oversees $1.74 trillion in assets and is expanding across digital assets, including the April launch of Franklin Crypto — a dedicated division anchored by the acquisition of crypto investment firm 250 Digital — alongside ongoing tokenization of traditional financial products.
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What is the 'universal liquidity layer' Sandy Kaul referenced?
Kaul, Franklin's head of innovation and digital assets, framed 2026 as the year stablecoins, tokenized funds and other digital money become interoperable across trading, lending and collateral applications — a thesis the MoonPay integration is designed to operationalize.
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What broader bottlenecks is this partnership trying to solve?
It targets the entry-side friction of moving between stablecoins and yield-bearing tokenized funds. Adjacent efforts like Symbiotic's Liquid Lane address the exit side by offering instant stablecoin redemptions for tokenized assets — together attacking the long settlement and redemption delays that have slowed…
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