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ETFs and mutual funds will all be on blockchain, says Franklin Templeton CEO – Ledger Insights
Jenny Johnson, President and CEO, Franklin Templeton has long been a fan of blockchain. “Eventually I think ETFs and mutual funds will all be on the blockchain,” she said Bloomberg TV last week. The asset manager issued a blockchain money market fund, which until last week was the largest blockchain-based treasury fund. THE Franklin Onchain US government money the fund has a market capitalization of $367 million and more than four hundred token holders. It was recently pushed into second place by institutional target BlackRock BUIDL Fund.
Ms. Johnson spoke about the benefits of blockchain. You discussed how the SEC required the asset manager to manage the shareholder register created by the blockchain alongside the existing internal system for a period of six to eight months. “We were amazed at how much less expensive it was to run on blockchain. It’s a very efficient technology,” she said.
While this type of benefit may seem aimed primarily at accountants, it impacts most businesses, especially anything related to transactions. He went on to explain how it reduces the need for counterparty reconciliation because everyone shares the same single source of data.
“So this reduces a lot of costs. When you eliminate friction in transactions, you can start investing in new areas,” Johnson said.
She is also interested in new opportunities, such as the possibility of investing in the licensing of a song to earn a small sum of money every time a song is played.
Risks of digital assets?
At the same time, the Bloomberg interviewer asked what the risks associated with digital assets are and whether retail investors understand what they are investing in.
“There are a lot of risky areas, which is why you need good advice if you’re investing in digital assets or the world of cryptocurrencies,” Ms. Johnson said. “But there are also really interesting investment opportunities in this space. But it is a challenge and you can definitely step on some landmines.”
This is one of the reasons why Franklin Templeton runs a course on digital assets for financial advisors. While other asset managers are starting to take an interest in blockchain, as far as we know only Franklin Templeton operates staking nodes across multiple blockchains: Provenance, Cardano, Stellar, Ethereum, Polkadot, and Solana.