Payward and Franklin Templeton Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Tokenized Assets and Institutional Digital Finance

Collaboration to accelerate adoption of tokenized investments, integrate BENJI and co-design a new suite of tokenized yield products.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Payward, the parent company of global crypto platform Kraken and developer of the xStocks tokenized equities framework, and Franklin Templeton, a global investment manager and leader in digital asset innovation, today announced a strategic collaboration to bring traditional financial products onchain and expand their utility across digital asset markets.

The program pairs Franklin Templeton’s global asset management and tokenization expertise with Payward's crypto-native trading, custody and onchain infrastructure. Spanning tokenized equities, qualified custody, actively-managed yield products and direct access to institutional crypto liquidity via Kraken’s OTC and Prime services, it is one of the clearest demonstrations yet of how traditional finance and digital asset markets are converging in practice.

Central to the collaboration is tokenization. Payward’s xStocks framework – which has processed over $30 billion in volume since launch in 2025 – will explore the launch of new actively managed investments onchain with Franklin Templeton, making strategies from one of the world’s largest asset managers tradeable onchain. Payward and Franklin Templeton will work on the launch of tokenized yield-focused products, available to institutional clients and, where permitted, Kraken’s broader user base. These products will be designed to offer professionally managed strategies with transparency, flexibility, and programmability.

“Payward and Franklin Templeton are building toward a model of finance where the distinction between traditional assets and digital infrastructure no longer holds,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken. “The convergence between these two worlds is only going to deepen, and what collaborations like this one unlock is a new class of products that wouldn't have been possible even three years ago: assets that carry the credibility of multi-decade managers and the programmability of digital infrastructure."

Alongside these programs, Kraken will work to integrate BENJI, Franklin Templeton’s suite of global tokenized money market funds, across the platform for a variety of institutional use cases to improve utility and capital efficiency in digital markets.

“The focus should be on making onchain assets more functional for the full range of market participants once they are there,” said Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Assets & Innovation at Franklin Templeton. “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 onchain.”

Franklin Templeton is a pioneer in digital asset investing and blockchain innovation, combining tokenomics research, data science, and technical expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions since 2018. Learn more at Franklin Templeton Digital Assets.

About Payward

Payward is a unified financial infrastructure platform advancing an open, global financial system. Through its product family — including Kraken, NinjaTrader and Payward Services — Payward serves clients in more than 190 countries and territories with crypto trading, derivatives, tokenized equities, staking, custody and B2B financial infrastructure. Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing and most secure crypto platforms.

For more information, visit www.payward.com and www.kraken.com.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton is a trusted investment partner, delivering tailored solutions that align with clients’ strategic goals. With deep portfolio management expertise across public and private markets, we combine investment excellence with cutting-edge technology. Since our founding in 1947, we have empowered clients through strategic partnership, forward-looking insights, and continuous innovation – providing the tools and resources to navigate change and capture opportunity.

With $1.74 trillion in assets under management as of April 30, 2026, Franklin Templeton operates globally in more than 35 countries.

To learn more, visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE: BEN]

Tokenized products are created and distributed by Payward. Investors should conduct their own thorough due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before considering any investment in tokenized assets.

Product availability may vary by jurisdiction. Geographic restrictions apply. See Kraken Terms of Service to determine which legal entity you face, based on where you live.

Franklin Templeton manages strategies related to tokenized investments, but does not issue, distribute, promote, or endorse tokenization platforms or tokenized versions of its strategies.

There are risks with the operational reliability or financial stability of tokenization platforms with additional risk including accuracy of pricing, settlement, or redemption processes. Blockchain infrastructure represents a new and rapidly evolving industry which is subject to regulatory uncertainty, competitive pressures, security risk, limited performance history and volatility.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the expected benefits of the collaboration, the development and launch of tokenized products, the integration of BENJI, and the expansion of services. These statements reflect current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including changes in regulatory requirements, market conditions, and technological developments. Neither Payward nor Franklin Templeton undertakes any obligation to update these statements.

Products, services and information may not be available in all jurisdictions and are offered by FT affiliates and/or their distributors as local legislation permits.

NOT FDIC INSURED | NO BANK GUARANTEE | MAY LOSE VALUE.