Bybit Accepts Franklin Templeton Tokenized Fund Shares as Off-Exchange Collateral
Franklin Templeton and Bybit started a program letting eligible clients pledge Benji tokenized money market fund shares through ByCustody for USDT or USDC trading credit.
Why it matters
The program extends tokenized money market funds beyond buy-and-hold into exchange financing, letting institutions borrow stablecoin credit against fund shares they never transfer to an exchange. Unchained points to an earlier OKX and Standard Chartered pilot, and Crypto.News to prior arrangements with Binance, so this is a widening of an existing arrangement rather than a new category of collateral. Cointelegraph cites the Bank for International Settlements valuing the tokenized money market fund market at more than $9 billion as of September 2025.
Where the sources disagree
Size of the Benji platform
$1.98 billion as of April, down to about $669 million per RWA.xyz
Cointelegraph
approximately $1.7 trillion in assets under management
CoinGape
Cointelegraph reports Benji had $1.98 billion in assets under management as of April, later declining to about $669 million per RWA.xyz, while CoinGape cites roughly $1.7 trillion in assets under management for Franklin Templeton as a whole.
What ByCustody is
Bybit's institutional custody platform
CoinGape
regulated custody platform
CoinDesk
CoinGape calls ByCustody Bybit's institutional custody platform, while CoinDesk describes it as a regulated custody platform and Unchained refers to it only as a custody platform.
Prior off-exchange collateral arrangements
April 2025 OKX and Standard Chartered pilot
Unchained
Binance and other crypto platforms globally
Crypto.News, CoinDesk
Unchained cites an April 2025 OKX and Standard Chartered pilot, while Crypto.News says Franklin Templeton previously launched comparable arrangements with Binance and other platforms, and CoinDesk calls Bybit not the firm's first such partnership.
Key facts
Clients pledge tokenized money market fund shares issued through Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform and receive USDT or USDC trading credit lines on Bybit.
Reported by CoinDesk
The underlying assets stay off-exchange at custody platform ByCustody while Bybit mirrors their value in its trading environment.
Reported by CoinDesk
CoinDesk describes the pledged shares as representing about $686 million in net assets.
686,000,000 USDReported by CoinDesk
One share of the fund is represented by one BENJI token on Franklin Templeton's blockchain-integrated recordkeeping infrastructure.
Reported by Crypto.News
Bybit said keeping the assets off the exchange cuts clients' counterparty exposure.
Reported by Unchained
What happened
Franklin Templeton and Bybit announced on Monday, September 28, a collaboration whose first element is an off-exchange collateral program for eligible institutional clients. Clients pledge tokenized money market fund shares issued through Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform, Franklin Templeton's blockchain-integrated recordkeeping and transfer agency infrastructure, and receive USDT or USDC trading credit lines on Bybit. CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, Unchained, Crypto.News, CoinGape and Bitcoinist describe the same structure: the underlying assets stay with the regulated custodian ByCustody, Bybit mirrors their value inside its trading environment, and the fund keeps paying yield on the holdings. The fund most often named is the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, ticker FOBXX, which Crypto.News reports held $686.64 million in net assets as of August 31; CoinDesk puts the share pool at about $686 million. CoinGape says the shares are pledged through ByCustody, its description of ByCustody as Bybit's institutional custody platform differs from CoinDesk's framing of it as a regulated custody platform, and Unchained and Bitcoinist both report that Bybit said keeping assets off the exchange reduces clients' counterparty exposure. Franklin Templeton quoted Sandy Kaul, its head of digital assets and innovation, saying the Benji platform's extension to Bybit gives institutions a trusted venue to put regulated, yield-bearing assets to work in digital markets. What is not settled: the size of the Benji platform is reported inconsistently, with Cointelegraph citing $1.98 billion in assets under management as of April declining to about $669 million per RWA.xyz, and CoinGape citing roughly $1.7 trillion in total assets under management for Franklin Templeton; the two sides also plan a tokenized wealth product for wallet users on the Mantle network, which Cointelegraph says has no disclosed details. Unchained notes this is not the first exchange arrangement of the kind, citing an April 2025 OKX and Standard Chartered pilot that accepted Franklin Templeton tokenized money market funds as off-exchange collateral, and Bitcoin Insider says Franklin previously ran comparable Benji collateral arrangements with Binance and other platforms.
How the story developed
- First report
First report by CoinDesk
Crypto-friendly institution Franklin Templeton brings its tokenized collateral service to Bybit
- Update
CoinDesk reports Franklin Templeton is extending its off-exchange collateral program to Bybit
The report says Benji-issued tokenized money market shares, about $686 million in net assets, can back USDT or USDC credit lines while assets stay at ByCustody.
- Official statement
Companies announce the collaboration in a press release
The announcement sets out the first program connecting the Benji Technology Platform to ByCustody and Bybit's trading infrastructure, and quotes Sandy Kaul on putting regulated, yield-bearing assets to work in digital markets.
- Independent corroboration
Independently corroborated by Crypto.News
Franklin Templeton brings $687M tokenized fund to Bybit
- Update
Crypto.News and CoinGape report the same program with fund-level detail
Crypto.News gives FOBXX net assets of $686.64 million as of August 31 and the one-share-one-BENJI-token mapping; CoinGape gives Franklin Templeton's roughly $1.7 trillion in assets under management and describes ByCustody as Bybit's institutional custody platform.
- Update
Cointelegraph adds market context and a Benji asset figure
The report cites the Bank for International Settlements valuing tokenized money market funds at more than $9 billion as of September 2025, and RWA.xyz data showing Benji AUM falling to about $669 million from $1.98 billion in April.
- Update
Unchained notes an earlier OKX and Standard Chartered pilot
Unchained says OKX and Standard Chartered launched a pilot in April 2025 accepting Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market funds as off-exchange collateral, and reports Bybit's stated rationale on counterparty exposure.
How coverage built up
Independent sources over time, counted the way the consensus panel counts them: a republication of a wire story does not move the line.
- 28 Sept 2026, 11:00 UTC: CoinDesk — 1 independent source, 1 reports
- 28 Sept 2026, 12:38 UTC: Crypto.News — 2 independent sources, 2 reports
- 28 Sept 2026, 14:00 UTC: CoinGape — 3 independent sources, 3 reports
- 28 Sept 2026, 18:02 UTC: Cointelegraph — 4 independent sources, 4 reports
- 28 Sept 2026, 19:22 UTC: Bitcoin Insider — 5 independent sources, 5 reports
- 28 Sept 2026, 22:02 UTC: Unchained — 6 independent sources, 6 reports
- 29 Sept 2026, 21:30 UTC: Bitcoinist — 7 independent sources, 7 reports
Affected entities
Also mentioned: OKX, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock, Crypto.com, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Kraken, Robinhood
Original sources
| Publisher | Report | Role | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoinDesk Crypto media | Crypto-friendly institution Franklin Templeton brings its tokenized collateral service to Bybit | Original | |
| Unchained Crypto media | Bybit Accepts Franklin Templeton’s Tokenized Money Fund Shares as Off-Exchange Collateral | Independent | |
| Cointelegraph Crypto media | Bybit accepts Franklin Templeton tokenized funds as trading collateral | Independent | |
| Crypto.News Crypto media | Franklin Templeton brings $687M tokenized fund to Bybit | Independent | |
| CoinGape Crypto media | Breaking: Franklin Templeton Partners With Bybit to Offer Tokenized Money Market Funds | Independent | |
| Bitcoinist Crypto media | Bybit Lets Institutions Use Franklin Templeton Tokenized Fund Shares As Collateral | Independent | |
| Bitcoin Insider Aggregator | Bybit and Franklin Templeton Put Tokenized Funds to Work as Trading Collateral | Syndicated |
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