Kraken parent Payward and Franklin Templeton used the Bermuda Digital Finance Forum on Monday to advance a strategic collaboration first announced in May, with Kraken Co-CEO Dave Ripley unveiling the partnership live on stage.
Kraken airdropped a tokenized share of Franklin Templeton’s Gold ETF to eligible attendees, worth about $200 each and settled onchain, according to Kraken.
BENJI integration and yield products
The collaboration covers integrating Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenized money market funds on Kraken for institutional use cases, including collateral and settlement. The two firms will also co-design actively managed, yield-focused products built for onchain distribution.
Kraken is positioning tokenized funds as working infrastructure on its platform.
“By expanding the utility of BENJI and exploring new tokenized 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 on-chain,” said Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Assets & Innovation at Franklin Templeton.
Kraken said xStocks, its tokenized equities framework issued via its Bermuda-licensed entity, has processed over $30 billion in volume since launching in 2025. The Bermuda government confirmed the forum featured the Payward-Franklin Templeton partnership among its announcements.
