Five years of BENJI, the first US-registered fund onchain

In April 2021, Franklin Templeton launched BENJI on Stellar, making it the first U.S.-registered money market fund to operate on a public blockchain. Five years later, BENJI sits at $1.98B across nine chains, with Stellar still anchoring 95% of its holders.

This report uses Allium's onchain data (through April 2026) to examine BENJI's growth, distribution, compliance record, and institutional use cases for asset managers, fintech builders, and institutions evaluating tokenized fund infrastructure.

‍What's inside:

1. BENJI: Structural properties, how it differs from tokenized T-bills and stablecoins, and where it ranks among peers.
2. Franklin Templeton's tokenization strategy: Operational infrastructure, capital efficiency, and market structure modernization across the BENJI product line.
3. Distribution channels: Retail via the Benji Investments app and institutional access through custody, broker-dealer platforms, and off-exchange collateral programs.
4. Multi-chain position and why Stellar: BENJI's footprint across nine chains, why Stellar still anchors institutional onboarding, and the broader Stellar RWA ecosystem.
5. Compliance record: Five years of trustline authorizations, zero clawbacks, and protocol-native compliance compared to smart-contract approaches on other chains.
6. Use cases and outlook: BENJI's expansion into institutional workflows (idle collateral, off-exchange custody, cross-venue settlement, M&A consideration), and the catalysts ahead.