ETFs
Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson on Bitcoin ETFs, RWA tokenization and the potential of blockchain for TradFi
AUSTIN, Texas — Franklin Templeton, the $1.6 trillion asset manager based in Silicon Valley, has been at the forefront of traditional finance heavyweights jumping into the digital assets space.
“We looked at blockchain technology [and found] this is going to be transformational and we better make sure we understand that,” said Jenny Johnson, president and CEO of Franklin Templeton, during a panel discussion Thursday at Consensus 2024 in Austin.
This is why the company runs around 30 validator nodes on 12 different blockchains, for example on Ethereum. (ETH)Cardano (ADA)Stellar (XLM) and provenance, Johnson said during the panel. This is more than what the asset manager offers website shows, which mentions six networks including the same four blockchains plus Polkadot (POINT) and Solana (GROUND).
One of the main attractions of blockchain technology, she explained, is the efficiency of recording and reconciling transactions and its potential to reduce costs.
“Franklin [Templeton] today, a large number of people, a few hundred, are content to reconcile [data] between systems, then we have to reconcile with our counterparty and another company,” Johnson said.
Blockchains offer a single “source of truth” and record the timing of transactions better than conventional processes, she said, which could help reduce costs and administrative workload.
“We are in an industry where we are constantly under pressure to reduce the costs of delivering what we do,” she added.
One example benefiting from blockchain is tokenization, which makes real-world assets such as funds and bonds available on digital asset rails. Franklin Templeton was a pioneer, she said, launching the first on-chain money market fund using the Stellar network in 2021, years before rivals like BlackRock entered the space.
Franklin Templeton was one of 11 issuers approved to list spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States in January, and is also among those awaiting approval to launch a similar vehicle for the world’s second-largest ether. cryptocurrency.
Johnson said many people are attracted to Bitcoin (BTC) as an asset outside the banking system that is resistant to government seizures, but ETFs offer a well-understood vehicle for gaining exposure.
“For me, it’s a vehicle of choice,” Johnson said. “An ETF is a regulated entity, which puts many people at ease who would not otherwise trade in this space.”