Despite calling Bitcoin the biggest distraction from blockchain — which she called one of the biggest disruptions in financial services — Franklin Templeton President and CEO Jenny Johnson said she remains on board.
“A lot of people took it because I’m not a believer in Bitcoin,” Johnson told CNBC. “However, when you launch this ETF, you can clearly see the demand that exists for Bitcoin, and I think there are a lot of reasons behind that.”
For example, she pointed to the increasingly prevalent ability to pay for things with Bitcoin.
“Blockchain technology is going to open up a lot of really interesting types of investment opportunities,” Johnson said.
Describing Bitcoin as just one of a range of investment possibilities, Johnson noted that Franklin Templeton created a token fund on the Stellar blockchain, which the investment firm launched in 2021. In the same year, Franklin Templeton said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, He plans to raise $20 million for a blockchain venture fund.
Founded in 1947, Franklin Templeton is a global investment firm providing asset management and financing services to individuals and institutions; The company currently has more than $1.4 trillion under management.
Earlier this year, Franklin Templeton said the Nasdaq-listed US government fund FOBXX would use the Polygon Ethereum scaling network to be “more compatible with the rest of the digital ecosystem.”
However, Franklin Templeton’s involvement in blockchain dates back to 2019, when the global asset manager teamed up with institutional wallet provider Curv to manage digital stocks on the premium blockchain.
Echoing recent comments by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Johnson said one factor in the ongoing interest in Bitcoin is its hedge against repressive governments, saying that as she traveled the world, she had been hearing stories of people keeping 50% of their savings in Bitcoin because Fear of having their paper money confiscated for saying the wrong things.
“There’s an element of fear to it,” Johnson said. “[Bitcoin]is almost an insurance or security item. But I also think it’s really important to foster the next real opportunity in the blockchain world.”
Johnson said Bitcoin ETFs are attractive to investors because they do not have to deal with private key management, which is technically complex to manage and give them direct access to an investor’s Bitcoin holdings.
“It’s really complicated. I did it at one point, and then I was trying to figure out how to get back, and it was tough,” Johnson said. “So being able to open it and access it through an ETF, and simply through your brokerage account “It’s a much better way to get there.”
Johnson emphasized the company’s expertise in active investing strategies, which are available in various forms, including mutual funds and ETFs.
“You’re seeing a lot of ETFs that are more actively managed, and that’s an area we’re very focused on,” Johnson said.
Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved several bitcoin ETFs, including applications from Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, GrayScale, and VanEck.
On Wednesday, Franklin Templeton’s Twitter account hinted at the company’s future plans that include Ethereum and Solana.
“At Solana, we see Anatoly’s vision of a single atomic state machine as a powerful use case for decentralized blockchains, reducing information asymmetry.” He said. “Despite the midlife crisis we have recently experienced, we see a bright future with many strong tailwinds to move the Ethereum ecosystem forward,” the account read. He said.
While a spokesman for Franklin Templeton declined to comment on the company’s future offerings, they said Decryption The company constantly monitors developments in digital assets.
“We cannot comment on any potential future fund offerings, but we can say that we are constantly monitoring developments in the digital assets and ETF ecosystems for opportunities to diversify our business,” the spokesperson said.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.