Franklin Templeton fund adds $150 million on XRP Ledger, all in one wallet

A Singapore-domiciled tokenized money market fund run by U.S. asset manager Franklin Templeton added $150 million in shares on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) in a single day. Ledger records show two batches of just over 72.18 million sgBENJI tokens were issued to one wallet on Oct. 22, lifting its holdings from 48.33 million shares to 192.70 million, nearly four times as many.

Each sgBENJI token represents one share of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund. The fund is a sub-fund of a Singapore variable capital company (VCC) and invests in short-term dollar debt such as U.S. Treasuries, commercial paper and bank deposits. Its directors have said they do not intend to make distributions, so income builds up in the share price.

Two subscription receipts, turned into shares the next day

The ledger shows each step. On Oct. 21 at about 4:38 p.m. KST, the fund's issuing account sent two "SUBSCRIPTION_CASH Receipt" tokens to the receiving wallet. The metadata attached to each lists $75 million and a separate transaction reference number.

The shares came the following day. On the morning of Oct. 22 the issuing account clawed back both receipt tokens, then issued 72,184,793 shares at 11:58 a.m. and again at 1:13 p.m. KST. Dividing $75 million by that number of shares gives $1.039 per share. Cash received is first recorded as a receipt, and the shares are delivered after the receipt is removed.

One wallet holds every share on the XRPL

After this issuance, the sgBENJI supply on the XRPL stands at 192,698,410 shares, all held in the same wallet (rDvuE3…uVE2). The wallet was created on Aug. 31 and received 967 shares on Sept. 2 and 48,327,856 shares on Sept. 10 before this latest jump. At $1.039 a share, the total is worth about $200 million.

The ledger alone does not reveal who owns the wallet. Transactions from the wallet cannot be authorized with a single private key; any two of eight registered signing addresses must approve each transaction. CoinDesk reported that the issuing account uses the same eight signers and that it is unclear whether the wallet represents one investor or several. According to CoinDesk, Franklin Templeton did not respond to its questions.

The token is not open to anyone. Only wallets approved by the issuer can receive sgBENJI, and the issuer has set it up so it can freeze balances and take tokens back. The fund's product highlights sheet says the share register combines blockchain records with off-chain information "which links the wallet addresses of the entries on the distributed ledger to their real-world identities." The fund currently uses two blockchains, Stellar and the XRPL.

An RLUSD swap plan agreed with DBS and Ripple a year ago

The fund launched on Sept. 18, 2025. The same day, Singapore's DBS Bank, Franklin Templeton and Ripple signed a memorandum of understanding to issue sgBENJI on the XRPL and list it on DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) alongside RLUSD, Ripple's dollar stablecoin. Eligible accredited and institutional investors would be able to swap between RLUSD and sgBENJI around the clock, and DBS said it would explore lending against sgBENJI as collateral.

"This collaboration represents a meaningful advancement in the utility of tokenised securities."

Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets, Franklin Templeton (September 2025)

XRP at 1,722 won on Upbit, kimchi premium at 1.3%

sgBENJI transactions are not directly tied to XRP's price, though fees for transactions on the XRPL are paid in XRP. XRP traded at 1,722 won on Upbit at about 5:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 24, 0.9% below the previous day's close. At the same time it traded at $1.2835 on Binance, down 3.2% over 24 hours, and the Upbit price was 1.3% above Binance's price converted into won, a gap known as the kimchi premium (the difference between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets). Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin also trades in Upbit's Korean won market.