What did Kraken parent company Payward announce with Franklin Templeton?

Payward partnered with Franklin Templeton to develop tokenised financial products. The partnership focuses on bringing traditional investment products onto blockchain infrastructure for institutional and potentially retail investors.

What are tokenised financial products?

Tokenised financial products are traditional assets like equities or money market funds represented digitally on blockchain networks. Tokenisation can make assets easier to trade, transfer and integrate into crypto-native financial systems.

Why is this partnership important for Kraken?

The deal expands Kraken beyond standard crypto trading into blockchain-based financial infrastructure. It also strengthens Kraken’s position in the growing market for tokenised real-world assets, often called RWAs.

What products are Payward and Franklin Templeton planning to build?

The firms said they will work on tokenised equities, digital custody solutions, liquidity products and blockchain-based yield investments. The partnership may also include tokenised actively managed investment strategies distributed through blockchain rails.

What is Kraken’s xStocks platform?

xStocks is Payward’s tokenised equities platform, which the company said generated more than $30 billion in trading volume since launching in 2025. The platform allows traditional equity exposure to be represented and traded through blockchain infrastructure.

Why is Franklin Templeton important in tokenised finance?

Franklin Templeton has become one of the largest traditional asset managers actively building blockchain-based investment products. Its BENJI tokenised money market fund is already available across several blockchain ecosystems.

What is the BENJI tokenised money market fund?

BENJI is Franklin Templeton’s blockchain-based money market fund backed by traditional financial assets. Kraken is exploring integration of BENJI to improve institutional liquidity management and capital efficiency on its platform.

How could this affect institutional crypto adoption?

The partnership could help attract more institutional investors by combining regulated asset management with crypto infrastructure. Large financial firms entering tokenisation may also increase confidence in blockchain-based financial products.

Kraken joins Franklin Templeton token push

Written by Brie CarterPublished May. 13 2026Last Updated May. 13 2026

Payward entered a partnership with Franklin Templeton to develop tokenised financial products and expand blockchain-based investment infrastructure.

The collaboration will combine Franklin Templeton’s asset management capabilities with Payward’s crypto exchange, custody and blockchain infrastructure services as institutional demand for tokenised assets continues growing.

“Payward and Franklin Templeton are building toward a model of finance where the distinction between traditional assets and digital infrastructure no longer holds,”

Said Payward and Kraken co-chief executive, Arjun Sethi.

The companies plan to collaborate on tokenised equities, digital custody services, institutional liquidity access and blockchain-based yield products aimed initially at institutional investors.

A major part of the partnership centres on Payward’s xStocks tokenised equities platform, which the company said has generated more than $30 billion in trading volume since launching in 2025.

The firms also plan to explore bringing actively managed investment strategies onto blockchain infrastructure so they can be distributed in tokenised form across digital asset markets.

Kraken is additionally exploring integration of Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenised money market fund to improve institutional capital efficiency and liquidity management.

“The focus should be on making onchain assets more functional for the full range of market participants once they are there,”

Said Franklin Templeton Head of Digital Assets and Innovation, Sandy Kaul.