Trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton has revealed plans to adopt the Solana network for its on-chain mutual fund. Another Wall Street giant, Citibank, is also exploring using Solana to process transfers and other smart contract services. These developments are undoubtedly positive for the Solana ecosystem, which boasts bullish fundamentals following recent announcements.
Franklin Templeton To Launch Mutual Fund On Solana
Franklin Templeton’s executive Mike Reed announced at the 2024 Solana Breakpoint event that the asset manager plans to launch an on-chain mutual fund on the Solana network. Reed highlighted how cost-efficient it was to offer this fund on Solana, suggesting this was the primary reason for adopting the network.
Reed further explained how the $1.4 trillion asset manager believes that blockchain technology can help enhance their financial services. He noted that motivated their decision to bring the mutual fund on-chain, specifically on Solana.
Interestingly, the executive revealed that they will build their development team, which will be responsible for tokenizing these funds rather than outsourcing. The team will implement the necessary infrastructure to ensure the funds are traded on blockchain rails.
Franklin Templton’s decision to adopt Solana is also unsurprising, considering earlier this year, they mentioned that Solana was “well positioned” to capture the next wave of crypto adoption.
They also mentioned how the Firedancer will enhance the network’s technical capabilities once it goes live. Coincidentally, Frankendancer, which has an element of the Firedancer validator client, went live today.
Citibank Also Exploring Solana
Citibank also announced at the Solana Breakpoint conference that it was exploring Solana and looking to utilize the network for money transfers and smart contract services at some point. Like Franklin Templeton, the bank also admitted that blockchain technology is the future of finance. As such, they are looking to utilize it to boost their financial services. Citibank earlier this year used Avalanche to test the tokenization of private equity funds.
Franklin Templeton and Citibank’s interest in Solana is undoubtedly for its ecosystem, considering the amount of liquidity that could flow into SOL. It is also worth mentioning that a Spot Solana ETF could launch at some point, with asset managers VanEck and 21Shares already filing to offer one. This will further increase the institutional adoption of Solana.
Solana’s fundamentals are bullish and support a further price surge for the SOL price. Solana Mobile recently announced the network’s new mobile Seeker, scheduled for release in 2025. Meanwhile, the ZK Compression upgrade is live on the network’s Mainnet.
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