Coinbase’s Ethereum Scaling Solution Onboards Franklin Templeton

Coinbase’s Ethereum scaling solution has successfully onboarded its first large wealth manager, Franklin Templeton, a renowned $1.5 trillion Wall Street firm.

Franklin Templeton and OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund

Franklin Templeton announced that users can now trade shares of its OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund, FOBXX, on the layer-2 network Base. With $410 million in assets, FOBXX has already launched on five other blockchains, including Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Aptos, and Stellar. The addition of Base marks the sixth blockchain to support Franklin Templeton’s tokenized Treasury fund.

Bridging Traditional and Decentralized Finance

This announcement signifies another significant crossover between traditional and decentralized finance markets. Recently, fellow asset manager BlackRock launched its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, also known as BUIDL, on Ethereum’s mainnet, partnering with ETH-native protocols like Ethena Labs.

“New chain unlocked. Benji, our proprietary blockchain-integrated recordkeeping system, is now live on Base! With this announcement, Franklin Templeton is the first asset manager to build on Base.”

Base, a layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum, aims to provide low-cost and efficient transactions. Franklin Templeton’s move to Base further strengthens the network’s position in the market.

Layer-2 Networks vs. Layer-1 Networks

While BlackRock launched on a layer-1 network and maintains the largest on-chain money market, Franklin Templeton has focused on layer-2 networks for its FOBXX fund. Layer-2 solutions operate on top of layer-1 blockchains but offer cheaper and quicker transactions. This makes them ideal for on-chain money markets and tokenized treasuries.

Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX was the first money market fund to employ decentralized technology for trading, initially choosing layer-2 Arbitrum as its platform.

Boosting Base’s Growth

Launching on Coinbase’s layer-2 network Base may further enhance its growth. Since its inception in 2022, Base has attracted over $2.6 billion in user deposits and stands as the fifth-largest decentralized finance blockchain, according to DeFiLlama. Base, launched by the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, also ranks as Ethereum’s top scaling solution based on active addresses, total value locked, and 24-hour volume.

Franklin Templeton’s integration with Base highlights the growing trend of traditional finance giants embracing decentralized finance solutions, offering a glimpse into the future of the financial ecosystem.

#Money #Ethereum #Crypto

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