Bybit accepts Franklin Templeton tokenized funds as trading collateral
Eligible institutions can pledge Benji-issued fund shares for stablecoin credit lines while keeping the underlying assets in off-exchange custody.
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Bybit's acceptance of Franklin Templeton tokenized funds as collateral represents a structural pivot toward institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure. By enabling institutions to use Benji-issued fund shares as collateral while maintaining off-exchange custody, the exchange reduces counterparty risk and regulatory friction—two primary barriers to institutional capital deployment in crypto. This mirrors traditional repo markets where securities serve as collateral without changing ownership, suggesting the infrastructure for institutional on-chain finance is reaching maturity.
The move signals confidence in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) as a collateral class. Franklin Templeton's Treasury fund tokenization has been among the highest-profile RWA implementations; Bybit's acceptance validates that institutional-grade assets can function meaningfully in crypto credit markets. This creates a feedback loop: as major exchanges support RWA collateral, institutional treasurers gain practical reasons to tokenize holdings, expanding the addressable market for both exchanges and custodians like Benji.