Franklin Templeton has introduced a new funding option on its Benji Investments platform, allowing users to convert USDC into U.S. dollars to invest in the Franklin Onchain U.S. Government Money Fund. The change is designed to simplify access for institutional participants that want exposure to the fund through BENJI tokens, which represent fund shares onchain.
The announcement marks another step in the asset manager’s effort to connect regulated investment products with blockchain-based settlement rails. By enabling a direct path from a major stablecoin into a registered money market-style fund, Franklin Templeton is making it easier for digital asset-native investors to access a product built around short-duration government-related instruments while staying closer to onchain workflows.
USDC On-Ramp for BENJI Purchases
According to the company, the conversion service is powered by Zero Hash, a provider that supports more than 60 digital assets across multiple blockchains. With the new feature, eligible users can move from USDC into dollars to fund purchases of BENJI tokens on Benji. Franklin Templeton also said the process supports the conversion of U.S. dollar proceeds back into USDC, creating a more seamless flow between tokenized fund exposure and stablecoin liquidity.
This matters because USDC remains one of the most widely used dollar-pegged stablecoins in digital asset markets. For institutional users already operating with stablecoin balances, the ability to fund a regulated onchain investment product without relying solely on traditional bank rails may reduce operational friction. It also helps position BENJI as a bridge product between conventional cash management and blockchain-native capital movement.
A Registered Fund With Blockchain-Based Recordkeeping
The Franklin Onchain U.S. Government Money Fund was launched in 2021 and was described as the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain for transaction processing and share ownership records. That structure made the fund an early example of how traditional financial products could adopt blockchain infrastructure without abandoning regulated fund wrappers.
The fund invests primarily in government securities, cash, and fully collateralized repurchase agreements. Franklin Templeton says the product is structured to maintain a stable $1 share price, offering the price stability associated with cash-like instruments while seeking to preserve capital and liquidity. In practical terms, the fund aims to combine familiar money market characteristics with the efficiencies of tokenized ownership and blockchain-based transfers.
That mix has become increasingly attractive as institutions explore tokenization not merely as a technological experiment, but as a way to improve settlement, transparency, transferability, and operational flexibility for otherwise traditional assets.
Broader Access for Traditional and Crypto-Native Investors
Franklin Templeton said the initiative is meant to improve accessibility for both traditional investors and blockchain-native investors. While the current emphasis is on institutional wallets, the company signaled that future expansion to individual investors on the platform remains a possibility.
The latest update builds on earlier functionality added in April 2024, when the fund enabled peer-to-peer transfers for institutional BENJI token holders on blockchain rails. Taken together, these features suggest a deliberate strategy: first, tokenize the fund shares; then make them transferable; and now expand the ways investors can enter and exit the product using stablecoin infrastructure.
That progression shows how large financial institutions are gradually layering digital asset functionality onto products that remain grounded in familiar investment mandates. Rather than presenting tokenization as a replacement for regulated fund structures, Franklin Templeton is using it to modernize access, ownership records, and transfer mechanics.
Franklin Templeton’s Position in a Growing Tokenized Treasury Market
The move also comes as competition increases in the market for tokenized funds linked to U.S. government debt and cash-like assets. Franklin Templeton is not alone in targeting this segment. In March 2024, Blackrock launched the Blackrock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) in partnership with Coinbase and tokenization platform Securitize. That fund similarly reflects growing institutional interest in bringing traditionally low-risk, short-duration instruments onchain.
The emergence of products like BENJI and BUIDL indicates that tokenized real-world assets are moving beyond theory and into portfolio implementation. Asset managers appear to see blockchain rails as especially suitable for money market and Treasury-related products, where stable value, high liquidity, and operational efficiency are central to investor demand.
Unlike more volatile crypto assets, tokenized government funds can appeal to institutions looking for a blockchain-based instrument with a clearer risk profile and a yield component. That is part of what makes this category strategically important: it can serve as an entry point for institutions interested in digital asset infrastructure without requiring exposure to large price swings.
Company Commentary on the USDC Integration
Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, said the USDC functionality makes BENJI easier to access. In his view, offering an on-ramp that lets investors buy BENJI tokens with USDC provides a smoother way to enter the tokenized money market fund.
Bayston added that the registered fund offers the price stability characteristics of a stablecoin while also accruing yield. That description captures the core pitch behind tokenized money funds: combine the operational familiarity and settlement flexibility associated with stablecoins with the return profile of an underlying portfolio of government-related short-term assets.
For institutions, this can be a compelling proposition. Stablecoins are useful for transfer and settlement, but by themselves they do not necessarily generate yield. Tokenized money market funds, by contrast, attempt to preserve the utility of digital transfer while linking ownership to an income-producing underlying pool of assets.
Why the Development Matters
Franklin Templeton’s USDC conversion feature is significant less because it introduces a brand-new asset class and more because it reduces friction in a market that is quickly professionalizing. Every improvement in onboarding, settlement, transferability, and redemption makes tokenized funds more usable for institutions that need clear operational processes.
The announcement also reflects a broader trend in digital finance: the convergence of stablecoins, tokenized securities, and traditional asset management. As more regulated firms build products that can be accessed through blockchain-compatible infrastructure, the line between conventional capital markets and onchain financial systems continues to narrow.
For now, Franklin Templeton’s update strengthens Benji’s role as a distribution channel for one of the earliest blockchain-enabled registered funds in the U.S. market. And with institutional-grade tokenized liquidity products drawing growing attention, the ability to move from USDC into BENJI may prove to be more than a convenience feature—it may be part of the roadmap for how mainstream financial products increasingly come onchain.