BENJI is the token Franklin Templeton uses to represent shares of its Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund - one of the first US-registered funds to record ownership on a public blockchain. Each BENJI token equals one share of the fund, held at a stable value of about $1, and the fund invests almost entirely in US government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements. The key thing that sets it apart from most institutional tokenized Treasury products is access: BENJI is open to ordinary retail investors at a low minimum, not just institutions.

What BENJI actually is

BENJI is not a standalone crypto token; it is the on-chain record of your shares in a regulated tokenized fund. The fund is a conventional US government money-market fund, and Franklin Templeton records each investor's share ownership as BENJI tokens on a public blockchain, with the blockchain acting as the official transfer-agent record rather than a traditional database.

So when you hold BENJI, you own fund shares the law recognizes, and the token is simply how that ownership is tracked and moved. It is traditional finance using blockchain for recordkeeping, backed by a registered fund.

How it works and pays

Each token holds a steady ~$1 value, and the fund's daily yield accrues to you - typically distributed as additional fractional tokens rather than a changing price.

Returns track short-term US government rates, the same engine as any Treasury money fund, minus the fund's expenses. Because the token's net asset value is pinned near a dollar and yield comes as more tokens, BENJI feels close to a yield-bearing dollar - while remaining a regulated fund investment, not a stablecoin.

Who can invest

This is BENJI's headline advantage: it is accessible to retail investors through Franklin Templeton's app, with a low minimum, rather than the multi-million-dollar threshold of institutional products. That makes it one of the most realistic ways for an individual to hold tokenized US government yield directly.

BENJI vs BUIDL

They solve the same problem for different audiences. BlackRock's BUIDL targets institutions and qualified purchasers with a very high minimum; BENJI targets everyone with a low one. BUIDL is larger and institution-focused; BENJI is retail-first and longer-established on-chain. If you are an individual wanting tokenized Treasury exposure, BENJI is the more relevant of the two.

The track record and the numbers

BENJI's history is a large part of why it is worth paying attention to. The Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (ticker FOBXX) launched in April 2021, first on the Stellar blockchain, making it one of the earliest US-registered mutual funds to use a public blockchain as its official share record rather than a private database. It has since expanded to multiple chains, including Polygon, Avalanche, Base, and others.

The concrete figures matter when you compare it. As of 2026 the fund carried a management fee around 0.20%, a minimum near $20, and a 30-day yield in the mid-3% range, tracking short-term US government rates - with total assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars across more than a thousand holders. None of those are headline-grabbing against BlackRock's BUIDL on size, but BENJI's combination of a years-long on-chain track record, a genuinely retail minimum, and a conservative government-fund mandate is unusual. It is one of the few tokenized Treasury products an ordinary investor can actually buy and hold directly.

Things to check

As with any product, confirm the current minimum, the supported chains and wallets, how yield is credited, and the redemption process before investing - these evolve. BENJI's underlying fund is conservative by design, so the main considerations are the token wrapper and access mechanics rather than credit risk on the holdings.

Where to go next

• Next: best tokenized Treasury yields, and how they work.
• The issuers: who is tokenizing RWAs.
• Glossary: tokenized fund.

Sources: Franklin Templeton disclosures; rwa.xyz, as of 2026.