Payward Partners with Franklin Templeton for Tokenized Investment Products
Payward, the parent of crypto exchange Kraken, teams up with asset manager Franklin Templeton to create blockchain-based investment products focusing on tokenized yield offerings and equities, according to CoinDesk. The collaboration aims to enhance institutional access to digital financial products, integrating Franklin Templeton's BENJI tokenized money market funds into Kraken's platform.
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On May 12, 2026, Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced a collaboration with Franklin Templeton aimed at developing a series of tokenized financial products targeted at institutional investors. This initiative will explore offerings such as tokenized yield products, tokenized equities, and digital asset custody services.
The move aligns with a growing trend among major financial institutions, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and JPMorgan, that are increasingly exploring tokenization of traditional assets. Tokenization involves representing conventional financial assets like stocks and bonds on blockchain networks, facilitating efficient digital trading and settlement.
Through this partnership, Kraken intends to integrate Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenized money market funds into its platform, allowing these funds to serve as collateral and cash management resources for institutional clients. Analysts highlight tokenized Treasury funds as a rapidly expanding sector within digital assets, as they provide yields linked to government securities while enabling 24/7 collateral movement.
This collaboration brings together Franklin Templeton’s expertise in blockchain-based investment solutions with Payward’s focus on crypto trading infrastructure, including its xStocks tokenized equities platform, which reportedly processed over $30 billion in transactions since its launch in 2025. The firms plan to explore actively managed tokenized investment products, which may be available to both institutional and select retail Kraken users.
As financial markets continue to evolve with the proliferation of blockchain technology, observing how this partnership develops and its impact on tokenized finance will be important. This shift in focus towards integrating traditional financial instruments into crypto platforms reflects a broader trend of increased interest from Wall Street in blockchain-based financial solutions.
Summary based on original reporting by Helene Braun at CoinDesk, originally published May 12, 2026. SolanaWire does not republish source content.
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