Bybit Accepts Tokenized Money-Market Funds as Collateral for Institutional Trading

Bybit, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will now accept Franklin Templeton's tokenized money-market fund shares as collateral for institutional crypto trading.

This means that eligible clients can access credit without having to move their assets to the exchange. Instead, they can pledge shares issued through Franklin Templeton's Benji platform and receive credit denominated in USDT or USDC for trading on Bybit.

The underlying fund assets will remain in off-exchange custody, while investors retain their fund holdings. This structure allows institutions to use the same assets for both money-market fund exposure and crypto-trading finance without selling the shares or transferring them to Bybit.

The partnership expands the use of tokenized money-market funds beyond holding and settlement. Franklin Templeton's Benji platform had $1.98 billion in assets under management in April, while BlackRock's BUIDL fund had about $2.2 billion and was already accepted as collateral by several crypto platforms.