- Jennifer Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, says the $1.5 trillion company is proud to be the first to launch a fully on-chain fund on a public blockchain: the Stellar network.
- She believes that Bitcoin ETFs have a huge market to exploit for asset managers who are keen to get into crypto but are put off by the security and custody risks.
When it was launched nearly eighty years ago, Franklin Templeton focused on conservative investments such as mutual funds. Today, the country is pushing the boundaries by pioneering new investments and technologies, including blockchain. The firm was the first on Wall Street to issue a fully on-chain fund, and as CEO Jenny Johnson recently revealed, the financial giant is committed to blockchain and digital assets.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Jenny talked about the Stellar-based fund, its investment in Bitcoin, the launch of the BTC spot ETF and more. She stated:
We launched a tokenized money market fund; we were the first traditional asset manager to launch a fully active fund on a public blockchain, on the Stellar blockchain.
Jenny Johnson, president and CEO of Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US), dives into @FTI_DA’s tokenized money market fund using the Stellar network and highlights blockchain’s potential for real-world impact.
Watch it via @CNBC 👇 https://t.co/J9uKyMyltg
— Stellar (@StellarOrg) January 19, 2024
Franklin Templeton launched the on-chain fund in mid-2021 as the first to register shareholdings and use a public blockchain to process transactions transparently. This was before blockchain was ‘cool’ on Wall Street. As of April last year, the company announced that the fund had reached $270 million in assets under management.
The fund invests 99.5% of its money in cash, government securities and repurchase agreements, fully backed by cash or government securities. Investors purchase the BENJI token on the company’s app, which represents one share of the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund.
The firm, which has more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management, believes blockchain “has the potential to reshape the investment management industry by providing greater transparency and lower operating costs for traditional financial products.”
As Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, noted, “Stellar is evolving traditional financial products and processes, making markets more accessible and empowering more people.”
Betting on Bitcoin: Franklin Templeton Launches Spot ETF
While BlackRock was the Wall Street giant that made the most headlines with its spot launch of BTC ETF, other traditional financial giants also jumped in, including Franklin Templeton. Jenny says the company launched its ETF after seeing “escalating demand” for the top cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin will open a new era of blockchain payments on the blockchain, the investment titan believes. However, BTC still faces high transaction fees, limiting its use in payments. On the other hand, it has created a huge opportunity for other networks like Stellar, Ripple’s XRPL, Solana and more, whose fees are just a fraction of a cent, to dominate blockchain payments.
According to Franklin Templeton CEO, the underlying technology will “open up a lot of really interesting types of investment opportunities.”