DeFi Intel

Ripple CEO Says SEC's 'Regulation by Enforcement' Cost $150 Million and Drove 80% of Hiring Abroad

Franklin Templeton added about $150 million in shares of its tokenized money market fund to the XRP Ledger on Friday, August 21, 2026, according to CoinDesk. Two subscriptions recorded on Wednesday each carried a $75 million cash subscription, followed by two batches of just over 72,184,793 shares on Thursday at a $1.039 share price. The new shares went to a single wallet that now holds nearly 193 million sgBENJI shares worth about $200 million at that price. That wallet shares its eight authorized signing addresses with Franklin's issuing account, and any two can jointly approve a transaction, CoinDesk reported from ledger records. The number of wallets holding sgBENJI on the network stayed at one.

Franklin Templeton added about $150 million in shares of its tokenized money market fund to the XRP Ledger on Friday, August 21, 2026, according to CoinDesk. Two subscriptions recorded on Wednesday each carried a $75 million cash subscription, followed by two batches of just over 72,184,793 shares on Thursday at a $1.039 share price. The new shares went to a single wallet that now holds nearly 193 million sgBENJI shares worth about $200 million at that price. That wallet shares its eight authorized signing addresses with Franklin's issuing account, and any two can jointly approve a transaction, CoinDesk reported from ledger records. The number of wallets holding sgBENJI on the network stayed at one.

Background

The tokens represent shares of the Singapore-domiciled Franklin OnChain U.S. Dollar Short-Term Money Market Fund, which invests in short-term dollar debt and money-market instruments including government paper, commercial paper and bank deposits, with returns accumulating in the share price, according to CoinDesk. Franklin and DBS announced the fund's Singapore-authorized structure in November 2025 with a $20 minimum investment; it was initially available to wealth and accredited clients, with retail access expected in early 2026. Their September 2025 agreement with Ripple outlined plans for eligible DBS Digital Exchange clients to switch between sgBENJI and RLUSD, and DBS said it would explore lending against the fund tokens. Holding sgBENJI directly on the XRP Ledger requires Franklin's approval, and its settings allow the issuer to freeze balances and recover tokens. Franklin's fund documents describe a register combining blockchain entries with records held outside the network, including information linking wallet addresses to real-world identities. RWA.xyz ranks Franklin second in its XRP Ledger table of tokenized asset platforms, behind Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin at about $930 million and ahead of Ondo at $185 million.

What happened

CoinDesk reported that Franklin Templeton added roughly $150 million worth of shares in its tokenized money market fund to the XRP Ledger earlier Friday, and that every new share went to one wallet now holding the fund's entire token balance on the network. The report said that wallet and Franklin's issuing account authorize the identical eight signing addresses, and that any two can jointly approve a transaction, according to CoinDesk's review of ledger records. The wallet holds nearly 193 million sgBENJI shares, up from about 48 million before Thursday; at the $1.039 share price recorded in the transactions, that is worth about $200 million. CoinDesk reported that on Wednesday Franklin's issuing account wrote two subscription receipts onto the ledger, each recording a $75 million cash subscription and carrying its own reference code. Two batches of just over 72,184,793 shares followed at 02:58 and 04:13 UTC Thursday, each carrying a matching receipt code and a $1.039 share price. The receipts leave the investors, funding source and any connection to existing holdings on Stellar, the other blockchain the fund uses, undisclosed, CoinDesk said. RWA.xyz lists Franklin's XRP Ledger position at about $193 million, matching the share count at a dollar each, while Thursday's recorded share price puts its value nearly $8 million higher. CoinDesk said it asked Franklin whether the wallet is an omnibus account, how many investors funded the subscriptions and whether they or their custodians will receive tokens in separate addresses, and that the firm had not responded as of Asia morning hours on Saturday. The report noted that brokers and custodians routinely hold shares for many clients in one account, tracking individual ownership separately, and that whether this particular wallet represents one investor or several remains unclear. Thursday's transactions nearly quadrupled the number of sgBENJI shares on the XRP Ledger, while the number of wallets holding any of them stayed at one, CoinDesk reported.

Market impact

CoinDesk reported that the XRP Ledger now holds nearly 193 million sgBENJI shares worth about $200 million at the $1.039 share price recorded in the transactions, up from about 48 million shares before Thursday. RWA.xyz lists Franklin's XRP Ledger position at about $193 million, matching the share count at a dollar each, while the recorded share price puts its value nearly $8 million higher, according to the report. RWA.xyz ranks Franklin second in its XRP Ledger table of tokenized asset platforms, behind Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin at about $930 million and ahead of Ondo at $185 million. The two Wednesday receipts each recorded a $75 million cash subscription, and the two Thursday share batches each carried just over 72,184,793 shares at $1.039. The report said the transactions nearly quadrupled the number of sgBENJI shares on the XRP Ledger while the number of wallets holding them stayed at one. No price moves for XRP, RLUSD or other tokens are given in the source.

Why it matters

The source supports several consequences. First, the concentration: all sgBENJI shares on the XRP Ledger sit in a single wallet whose eight authorized signers are identical to Franklin's issuing account, and any two can jointly approve a transaction, per CoinDesk's ledger review. Whether that wallet is an omnibus account for many clients or one investor is unclear, and Franklin had not answered CoinDesk's questions as of Asia morning hours on Saturday. Second, control: holding sgBENJI directly on the XRPL requires Franklin's approval, and its settings allow the issuer to freeze balances and recover tokens, the report said. Third, the fund's structure links blockchain entries to records held outside the network, including information linking wallet addresses to real-world identities, according to Franklin's fund documents cited by CoinDesk. Fourth, the placement sits within a broader XRP Ledger tokenized-asset table where Ripple's RLUSD leads at about $930 million and Ondo follows Franklin at $185 million, per RWA.xyz. The report also notes the September 2025 agreement outlining plans for eligible DBS Digital Exchange clients to switch between sgBENJI and RLUSD, and DBS's stated intent to explore lending against the fund tokens.

DeFi Intel’s take

Editorial analysis, not a statement of fact.

DeFi Intel's take: this is a notable test case for institutional tokenization on the XRP Ledger, but the source's own numbers suggest caution before reading it as broad adoption. Nearly quadrupling shares while the holder count stays at one, with signers shared between the wallet and the issuer, reads to us as a custodial or omnibus arrangement rather than many independent on-chain holders. The issuer's ability to approve, freeze and recover tokens is disclosed in the fund's design, so we read this as permissioned infrastructure working as described, not as open DeFi. The unanswered questions about investor count and separate addresses are the ones that would tell us whether this is one client or many. We would treat the roughly $200 million figure as a snapshot at the recorded $1.039 share price, not a settled valuation, and we note the source gives no XRP price reaction.

Sources used for this analysis

DeFi Intel wrote this analysis from the reporting above. Any figure or quotation can be checked against those pages.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Franklin Templeton add to the XRP Ledger and when?

CoinDesk reported that Franklin Templeton added about $150 million in shares of its tokenized money market fund to the XRP Ledger earlier Friday, August 21, 2026. Two Wednesday subscription receipts each recorded a $75 million cash subscription, followed by two Thursday share batches of just over 72,184,793 shares each at a $1.039 share price.

Who holds the sgBENJI shares on the XRP Ledger?

According to CoinDesk, all sgBENJI shares on the XRP Ledger remain in a single wallet holding nearly 193 million shares, up from about 48 million before Thursday. That wallet shares its eight authorized signing addresses with Franklin's issuing account, and any two can jointly approve a transaction. It is unclear whether the wallet represents one investor or multiple clients.

What controls does Franklin have over the tokens?

CoinDesk reported that holding sgBENJI directly on the XRP Ledger requires Franklin's approval, and that the fund's settings allow the issuer to freeze balances and recover tokens. Franklin's fund documents describe a register combining blockchain entries with records held outside the network, including information linking wallet addresses to real-world identities.

Read full article on Sec_crypto_enforcement →

DeFi Intel is an entity-graph aggregator: we curate, tag and link crypto news to a typed knowledge graph of protocols, tokens, people and incidents. We do not republish the full article body. Use the link above to read the original report at Sec_crypto_enforcement.

Discussion

Comments are reviewed before publication.

No comments yet.

Stay current on entity-tagged crypto news

Get the weekly DeFi Intel brief — entity-graph intelligence covering protocols, tokens and incidents, free to your inbox.