Franklin Templeton added $150 million in tokenized fund shares to the XRP Ledger on Oct. 22, 2026, CoinDesk reported two days later1. The move nearly quadrupled the fund's balance on that ledger, from about 48 million shares to nearly 193 million. Every one of those shares sits in one wallet. CoinDesk asked Franklin Templeton who controls it. The firm stayed silent through Saturday morning in Asia. Trader Scott Melker shared the figure with his followers on X hours later7. The post spread fast.
A Partnership Built in 2025
The fund behind the move is Franklin's OnChain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund, sold on the ledger as sgBENJI1. It holds short-term government paper, commercial paper and bank deposits, all priced in dollars. Franklin, DBS and Ripple built this link back in September 20252. The deal let DBS clients trade fund shares against Ripple's own dollar stablecoin, RLUSD. Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton's head of digital assets, explained the thinking at the time. “We believe that blockchain and tokenisation unlock powerful new use cases that have the potential to reshape the global financial ecosystem,” Bayston said.
Ripple picked the XRP Ledger for this kind of trade on purpose2. The chain settles in seconds and keeps transaction costs low, qualities Ripple says drew Franklin and DBS to it in the first place.
Ripple's own trading chief, Nigel Khakoo, framed the deal as part of a wider shift already underway. “2025 has been marked by a series of industry-firsts when it comes to traditional financial institutions moving onchain,” Khakoo said2. On the ledger, sgBENJI trades directly against RLUSD. XRP itself sits outside that specific pair.
Thursday's top-up came in two batches of just over 72.18 million shares each, worth about $75 million apiece1. Each batch landed minutes apart, at 02:58 and 04:13 UTC. At $1.039 a share, the old 48 million shares were worth about $50 million. The new 193 million are worth close to $200 million. That jump makes Franklin the second-biggest tokenized fund on the XRP Ledger. Ripple's own RLUSD still leads with about $930 million, and Ondo's rival fund trails Franklin at $185 million.
Franklin Templeton's XRP Ledger Fund Jumped From $50M to $200M on Oct. 22
Franklin's sgBENJI balance on the XRP Ledger, before and after its Oct. 22, 2026 top-up, in dollars
- After Oct. 22: $200M
- Before Oct. 22: $50M
Source: CoinDesk [1].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Before Oct. 22 | $50M | About 48 million shares at $1.039 each |
| After Oct. 22 | $200M | About 193 million shares at $1.039 each |
One Wallet, Unnamed Owner
Every new share landed in a wallet that already held Franklin's old balance1. That wallet shares its eight signing addresses with Franklin's own issuing account, and any two of them can approve a transfer. Franklin's own settings also let the issuer freeze balances and pull tokens back.
24/7 Wall St. called a single wallet a common setup for a fund this new8. Issuers often hold shares until an investor asks for delivery. One account, in that reading, can serve many clients at once.
Even so, the ledger shows the token alone. Treasury bills and bank deposits sit behind it, off the public record.
Read plainly, the structure cuts two ways. A single wallet makes the fund easy for Franklin to administer, the same reason a bank keeps one ledger for many accounts. It also means a reader checking the XRP Ledger alone learns little about who actually owns the money inside it.
CoinDesk asked whether the wallet served one investor or many1. The outlet also asked if its holder already owned shares on Stellar, the other chain where the fund trades. Franklin kept quiet through early Saturday in Asia. The receipts name a cash amount and a reference code. They leave the investor's identity off the public record.
The Case for Trusting a Public Ledger
Ripple's president, Monica Long, made her own case for that trust in August5.
Monica Long@MonicaLongSFIn the last year, we’ve seen the veritable light switch flip – from bank pilots to production, from issuing tokenized assets like money market funds and liquidity funds to using them! Institutional capital markets are moving in one direction -- onchain 24/7. At Ripple, our goal… https://t.co/DPhbEBY3Dr
Long credited banks and fund managers for moving past pilot projects this year5. DBS Digital Exchange's chief executive, Lim Wee Kian, made a similar case when the Franklin partnership first launched. “Digital asset investors need solutions that can meet the unique demands of a borderless 24/7 asset class,” Lim said2.
Franklin's own numbers back that story. Its XRP Ledger balance now sits close to Ripple's RLUSD and ahead of Ondo's rival fund1.
Ripple's RLUSD Led XRP Ledger Tokenized Funds With $930M on Oct. 24, 2026
Tokenized fund and stablecoin balances on the XRP Ledger, in dollars, as of Oct. 24, 2026
- Franklin's sgBENJI: $200M
- Ripple's RLUSD: $930M
- Ondo's fund: $185M
Source: CoinDesk [1].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Ripple's RLUSD | $930M |
| Franklin's sgBENJI | $200M |
| Ondo's fund | $185M |
Singapore's Monetary Authority licensed DBS Digital Exchange as a recognized market operator in 20206. That status lets DBS run its own organized market for shares, bonds and funds. The approval predates this week's trade by six years.
The wallet itself still sits inside Franklin's own control, though. Long and Lim describe an industry moving fast. The license and the wallet show a company that kept full control.
Taken together, the partnership, the license and the balance sheet make one case well. Long, Lim and Khakoo describe a ledger institutions already use for real money, past the pilot stage.
What the European Central Bank Sees Differently
The European Central Bank studied this exact structure months earlier. Six of its staff, led by Alexandra Born, reviewed tokenized money funds across major chains in April 20263. Their finding cuts against the comfort Long and Lim describe. “The real-time transparency of public DLTs combined with 24/7, cross-border tradability could further amplify first-mover incentives – especially for tokenised shares in partially tokenised funds – thereby accelerating stress transmission compared with traditional MMFs,” the bank wrote.
A second gap sat in the same bulletin3. Tokenized shares often redeem instantly, but the fund underneath them still settles on fixed, delayed schedules. “This discrepancy between the liquidity of the token and underlying MMF creates a potential mismatch, increasing the risk of runs,” Born wrote.
Three days earlier, a smaller chain showed what happens when control fails. Initia halted its own blockchain on Oct. 23, 2026, after an attacker minted unbacked tokens and bridged about $2.7 million to Ethereum4. The attacker's haul broke down into about 1.4 million AUSD, 105 ETH and 1.08 million USDC before the chain froze. Its restart date stayed unset through Friday evening.
Franklin's fund runs the opposite way. Its issuer keeps the signing keys, freezes balances at will and recovers tokens on its own terms. The company still decides who gets paid. A ledger entry only records the outcome.
Both readings rest on the same wallet. Long and Lim see adoption. Born sees a mismatch waiting on a bad week. Franklin's own settings, built to freeze and recover tokens, are the reason either reading can be true at once.
By the numbers
- $150 million landed in Franklin Templeton's XRP Ledger fund on Oct. 22, 20261.
- Just under 193 million sgBENJI shares now sit in that one wallet, up from 48 million before the top-up1.
- Ripple's RLUSD carries about $930 million on the XRP Ledger, the largest tokenized holding there1.
- Ondo's rival fund holds about $185 million on the same ledger1.
- Two of eight signing addresses must approve any transfer out of the wallet1.
- About $2.7 million moved off Initia's chain to Ethereum on Oct. 23, 2026, before the halt4.
What to watch
Watch for Franklin's own answer to CoinDesk's question about the wallet's owner. A clear answer would show the company can explain its own structure in public. Watch too for the next large subscription on this ledger. A spread across several wallets would answer the European Central Bank's warning better than one more deposit in a single one.
Sources
- Shaurya Malwa, "Franklin Templeton adds $150 million in fund shares to XRP Ledger, all in one wallet," CoinDesk, Oct. 24, 2026, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/24/franklin-templeton-adds-usd150-million-in-fund-shares-to-xrp-ledger-all-in-one-wallet
- Ripple, "DBS and Franklin Templeton to Launch Trading and Lending Solutions Powered by Tokenised Money Market Funds and Ripple's RLUSD Stablecoin," Ripple, Sept. 18, 2025, https://ripple.com/ripple-press/dbs-franklin-templeton-to-launch-trading-and-lending-solutions-tokenised-mmf-ripple-stablecoin-rlusd/
- Alexandra Born, Michael Grill, Claudia Lambert, Vanessa Schöller, David Staunton and Anna Tskhakaya, "Tokenised money market funds: new technology, familiar risks?" European Central Bank, Macroprudential Bulletin, Issue 33, April 2026, https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/financial-stability-publications/macroprudential-bulletin/html/ecb.mpbu202604_04.en.html
- Unchained Staff, "Initia Has No Restart Date After Attacker Mints Tokens and Bridges Out $2.7 Million," Unchained, Oct. 23, 2026, https://unchainedcrypto.com/initia-has-no-restart-date-after-attacker-mints-tokens-and-bridges-out-2-7-million/
- Monica Long, Post on X, Aug. 4, 2026, https://x.com/MonicaLongSF/status/2084526088470831520
- DBS, "DBS to launch full-service digital exchange," DBS, Dec. 10, 2020, https://www.dbs.com/newsroom/dbs_digital_exchange
- The Wolf Of All Streets, Post on X, Oct. 24, 2026, https://x.com/scottmelker/status/2113994280398393431
- Sam Daodu, "Franklin Templeton Just Put $150 Million on the XRP Ledger. Why Is It All in One Wallet?" 24/7 Wall St., Oct. 24, 2026, https://247wallst.com/investing/cryptocurrency/2026/10/24/franklin-templeton-just-put-150-million-on-the-xrp-ledger-why-is-it-all-in-one-wallet/