Even though Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton, has called Bitcoin the biggest disruptor of blockchain (which she described as one of the biggest disruptions in financial services), she still sees it as one of the biggest disruptions in financial services. I said I support it.
“I don’t believe in Bitcoin, so a lot of people thought that,” Johnson told CNBC. “But the launch of this ETF clearly shows that there is demand for Bitcoin, and I think there are a lot of reasons why.”
For example, she pointed out that the ability to pay with Bitcoin is becoming increasingly common.
“(Blockchain) technology is going to open up a lot of really interesting types of investment opportunities,” Johnson said.
Johnson called Bitcoin one of a collection of investment possibilities, noting that Franklin Templeton created a tokenized fund on the outstanding blockchain that the investment firm launched in 2021. That same year, Franklin Templeton said in an SEC filing that it planned to raise $20 million. This is for a blockchain venture fund.
Founded in 1947, Franklin Templeton is a global investment firm providing asset management and fund services to individuals and institutions. The company currently manages more than $1.4 trillion.
Earlier this year, Franklin Templeton said the Nasdaq-listed OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX) would use the Ethereum scaling network Polygon “to make it more compatible with the rest of the digital ecosystem.”
However, Franklin Templeton’s blockchain involvement dates back to 2019, when the global asset manager partnered with institutional wallet provider Curv to manage digital stocks on the prominent blockchain.
In response to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s recent comments, Johnson said a factor in continued interest in Bitcoin is its hedge against oppressive governments. As she traveled around the world, she would hear about people keeping 50% of their savings in Bitcoin. She is afraid that she might say the wrong thing and have her fiat currency confiscated.
“There is an element of fear,” Johnson said. “(Bitcoin) is almost seen as an insurance or safety factor. But I think it’s also really important to promote what the next real opportunity is in the blockchain world.”
Johnson said Bitcoin ETFs are attractive to investors because they don’t have to deal with the technically complex management of private keys to manage and directly access investors’ Bitcoin holdings.
“It’s really complicated. I did that at some point, and I was actually trying to figure out how to get back in, and it was difficult.” Johnson said. “So being able to open that and access it through ETFs and simply through a brokerage account is a much better way to access it.”
Johnson emphasized the firm’s expertise in active investment strategies, which are available in a variety of forms, including mutual funds and ETFs.
“We’re seeing a lot more actively managed ETFs, and that’s an area we’re very focused on,” Johnson said.
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved several spot Bitcoin ETFs, including applications from Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, GrayScale, and VanEck.
On Wednesday, the Franklin Templeton Twitter account hinted at the company’s future plans related to Ethereum and Solana.
“At Solana, we see Anatoly’s vision of single-atom state machines as a powerful use case for decentralized blockchains to reduce information asymmetry.” said. “Despite the mid-life crisis we have recently experienced, we see a bright future with many strong tailwinds to advance the Ethereum ecosystem.” said.
A Franklin Templeton spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s future products, but said: decryption The Company continuously monitors the development of its digital assets.
“While we cannot comment on potential future fund offerings, we can say that we continue to monitor developments in the digital asset and ETF ecosystem to look for opportunities to diversify,” a spokesperson said.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
