Franklin Templeton plots wallet-native future for tokenized finance

Franklin Templeton maps a wallet-native future where tokenized stocks, bonds, and funds sit in digital wallets, cutting costs and speeding collateral and settlement.

Summary

• Franklin Templeton executives told the Ondo Summit that digital wallets will hold the totality of an individual’s financial life in a wallet-native ecosystem.​
• The firm’s Benji platform tokenizes stocks, bonds, and private funds, promising instant collateralization, lower processing costs, and real-time settlement.​
• With Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs live and expansion to BNB Chain, Solana, and Arbitrum planned, Franklin Templeton aims to place hundreds of billions on-chain.​

Franklin Templeton executives outlined a vision for digital wallet-based finance at the Ondo Summit in New York on February 3, 2026, predicting a fundamental shift away from traditional account-based asset management.

Sandy Kaul, Head of Innovation at Franklin Templeton, stated that tokenized digital wallets will eventually hold the “totality” of an individual’s financial life, according to remarks delivered at the summit. The transition represents a move toward what the firm characterizes as a “wallet-native” ecosystem.

The asset manager has been implementing this strategy through its proprietary blockchain platform, Benji, which the company reported is being used to tokenize traditional stocks, bonds, and private funds beyond simple cryptocurrency products.

Under the proposed model, assets currently held across multiple institutions—including stocks at brokerages, savings in banks, and real estate in paper deeds—would be represented as tokens on a blockchain. The system would enable instant collateralization, allowing tokenized holdings such as S&P 500 investments to secure loans within seconds, according to the firm’s presentation.

Executives from Fidelity, State Street, and WisdomTree attended the summit and indicated that tokenization has progressed from proof-of-concept stage to operational infrastructure, according to summit reports.

Franklin Templeton reported that public blockchain record-keeping costs significantly less than legacy systems. Industry data cited at the summit indicated that adopting blockchain infrastructure can reduce total processing costs by up to 82 percent.

The firm has launched multiple spot digital asset exchange-traded funds as part of its tokenization strategy. The product lineup includes funds providing direct Bitcoin exposure, native Ethereum exposure through the Benji platform, and a diversified portfolio of digital assets. The company reported plans to expand into tokens built on layer-1 blockchain networks.

CEO Jenny Johnson stated that 2026 would mark increased institutional investment beyond Bitcoin holdings into tokenized investment vehicles. The products are designed to provide broader access to asset classes such as private equity and high-yield credit, according to the company.

Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, said the expansion of the Benji platform onto networks including BNB Chain, Solana, and Arbitrum would enable the firm to reach hundreds of millions of existing wallet users globally. The initiative aims to reduce settlement times and provide real-time transaction finality, according to Bayston.

Franklin Templeton reported progress toward placing hundreds of billions of dollars in assets on blockchain networks. The firm characterized the development as a convergence between cryptocurrency infrastructure and traditional finance.