Author: Felix, PANews

Avalanche, which has been "silent for a long time," has recently received continuous good news and gained favor from many mainstream institutions. Last month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles began digitizing the ownership of 42 million vehicles onto the Avalanche network. Recently, the community initiated the ACP-77 proposal, which aims to change the validator dynamics of Avalanche L1 (formerly known as subnets). Avalanche L1 validators will no longer need to validate the main network and stake at least 2,000 AVAX, reducing the operational costs for Avalanche L1 validators.

Earlier yesterday (August 22), Franklin Templeton announced the deployment of its tokenized treasury fund on Avalanche, followed by Grayscale announcing the launch of an investment trust for the AVAX token. Driven by a series of positive news, AVAX rose by 10.8% in the past 24 hours and 26.8% in the past week. The trading price broke through $25, currently reported at $25.78.

Franklin Templeton Expands Blockchain Fund to Avalanche

Earlier yesterday, asset management company Franklin Templeton announced that its on-chain U.S. government money market fund (ticker: FOBXX) is now live on Avalanche.

FOBXX is the first U.S. registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain to record transactions and shares, initially launched on Stellar in 2021, allowing clients to invest cash into U.S. government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements. Two years later, in April 2023, FOBXX expanded to the Polygon POS Ethereum sidechain, and just a few days ago, on August 8, Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund expanded to Arbitrum.

The fund pays dividends to investors based on the returns of U.S. Treasury assets while maintaining a stable share price of $1. Shares of the fund can be purchased through Franklin Templeton's Benji Investments platform, where one BENJI token represents a share of FOBXX valued at $1. Retail traders can use the Benji mobile app, while the Benji Institutional portal serves qualified investors.

The FOBXX fund invests in low-risk U.S. government securities, including fixed, floating, and variable rate securities, as well as repurchase agreements fully collateralized by U.S. government securities or cash. Like almost all crypto tokens, BENJI can be traded around the clock.

FOBXX is the second-largest tokenized fund, following BlackRock's BUIDL project. According to rwa.xyz, as of August 22, the total value of tokenized U.S. Treasuries exceeds $1.92 billion. FOBXX has a market capitalization of over $424 million, second only to BlackRock BUIDL's $502 million.

Roger Bayston, Franklin Templeton's Head of Digital Assets, stated, "Bringing the Benji platform to the Avalanche network further expands access to our first tokenized money market fund."

Grayscale Launches Investment Trust for AVAX Token

Also yesterday, Grayscale Investments launched the Grayscale Avalanche Trust for Avalanche's native token AVAX. The trust is currently open for daily subions and operates similarly to Grayscale's existing single-asset investment products, focusing on AVAX. As of the time of publication, the trading price of Grayscale Avalanche Trust shares is $12.23, with a management fee of 2.5%.

Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale's Head of Products and Research, stated, "The launch of Grayscale Avalanche Trust demonstrates Grayscale's ongoing commitment to providing innovative opportunities for investors to participate in the exciting developments of the crypto eco." "Through its key strategic partnerships and unique multi-chain structure, Avalanche plays a critical role in advancing RWA tokenization."

The Avalanche Trust is the first trust launched under the supervision of Grayscale's new CEO Peter Mintzberg, who took office last week. Grayscale currently offers 22 crypto trusts, 18 of which are single-asset funds. The asset management company has recently focused on decentralized AI, launching an AI-focused digital asset trust, followed by two single-asset funds: Grayscale Bittensor Trust and Grayscale Sui Trust, which hold TAO and SUI tokens, respectively.

With a series of positive developments, it is worth looking forward to whether Avalanche can break out into an independent market and welcome "another spring."