Binance Teams With $1.6 Trillion Asset Manager Franklin Templeton for Crypto Product Push

Wall Street giant Franklin Templeton is working with the digital asset exchange Binance to build crypto products, the two said in a joint statement Wednesday. The statement did not reveal exactly what the products would be, but said they would be “tailored for a broad range of investors.” The two said they would reveal more details of the types of products later this year.

“Investors are asking about digital assets to remain ahead of the curve, but they need to be accessible and dependable,” EVP and Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton Roger Bayston said in a statement. “By working with Binance, we can deliver breakthrough products that meet the requirements of global capital markets and co-create the portfolios of the future.”

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, allowing users to buy, sell, and bet on the future price of digital coins and tokens. Franklin Templeton is one of the world’s largest investment firms, managing over $1.6 trillion in assets. Binance added in a statement: “By pairing Franklin Templeton’s expertise in compliant tokenization of securities with Binance’s global trading infrastructure and investor reach, we aim to bring greater efficiency, transparency, and accessibility to capital markets—while enhancing yield opportunities and settlement speed.”

The exchange added that the products would “bridge traditional finance and blockchain.” Franklin Templeton was among the high-profile Wall Street firms that debuted a spot Bitcoin ETF and later an Ethereum ETF last year. Its Bitcoin and Ethereum funds have generated $303 million and $61 million in net investments, respectively, according to data from UK asset manager Farside Investors.

The firm first dipped its toes in the blockchain space back in 2018 when it started digitizing shares for a money market fund on the Stellar blockchain. Then, in 2021, it announced a digital asset venture fund. Its FOBXX product is a digitized fund that lets customers put cash into U.S. government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements, and runs on a number of top crypto networks, including Ethereum and Avalanche.