Payward and Franklin Templeton collaborate 13 May 2026US Reporter: Matthew Challis
Image: Jo_Ann_Snover/stock.adobe.com
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has partnered with Franklin Templeton, an investment manager, to bring TradFi products onchain and broaden their scope across digital asset markets.
The collaboration intends to combine the asset management and tokenisation capabilities of Franklin Templeton with Payward’s crypto-native trading, custody, and onchain infrastructure.
The initiative will span tokenised equities, qualified custody, actively-managed yield products, and direct access to institutional crypto liquidity through the OTC and Prime services of Kraken.
Payward’s xStocks framework will explore the launch of new actively managed investments onchain with Franklin Templeton, with both firms set to work on releasing tokenised yield-focused products available to institutional clients.
Kraken will also be integrating BENJI, Franklin Templeton’s suite of tokenised money market funds, across its platform for an assortment of institutional use cases, according to the companies.
Speaking on the collaboration, Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, believes that the convergence of TradFi and DeFi is “only going to deepen, and what collaborations like this one unlock is a new class of products that wouldn't have been possible even three years ago: assets that carry the credibility of multi-decade managers and the programmability of digital infrastructure”.
Sandy Kaul, head of digital assets and innovation at Franklin Templeton, adds: “The focus should be on making onchain assets more functional for the full range of market participants once they are there.
“By expanding the utility of BENJI and exploring new tokenised products, our work with Payward reflects the growing need to serve both digital-native and institutional customers with solutions built for how capital increasingly moves onchain.”
NO FEE, NO RISK 100% ON RETURNSIf you invest in only one digital assets news source this
year, make sure it is your free subscription to The Digital Assets Edge
Image: Jo_Ann_Snover/stock.adobe.com 