TradFi Underestimates Bitcoin’s Enormous Scale, Franklin Templeton CEO Says

JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING — Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, who steered the asset management giant toward the digital asset space after taking over her family’s company in 2020, is shocked by how much traditional financial firms are unaware of Bitcoin’s scale.

In a conversation at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole on Tuesday, Johnson said 30% of her day-to-day work is spent looking at disruptive technology, as her main focus is positioning the firm for the next generation.

This includes digital assets, which Johnson believes is one of two big, obvious trends that she didn’t want to miss. (The other is artificial intelligence.)

“What’s crazy to me is that in traditional finance, they have no idea about the amount of money and the volume [of bitcoin],” Johnson said.

In 2023, the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain processed over $36.6 trillion in transactions as the market recovered from a tough year. This is in contrast to Mastercard and Visa, the two big payment networks worldwide, which processed $9 trillion and $14.8 trillion, respectively.

“There’s an entire ecosystem that almost ignores what is a parallel, massive ecosystem,” Johnson said.

Mastercard and Visa aren’t ignoring blockchain technology. Both companies have made efforts in recent years to add crypto payments to their networks. Visa in particular has run trial after trial to test out new product offerings and has partnered with several crypto-native firms, including Circle and Solana, to grow a stronger footing in the space. Mastercard is rolling out a blockchain-based debit card.

Franklin Templeton, after the appointment of Johnson as the company’s CEO, quickly became a leader among traditional financial asset managers. Its OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) became the first fund to use a public blockchain to record transactions and ownership in 2021.

Earlier this week, the company filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a fresh exchange-traded fund, trading under the ticker symbol EZPZ, that would expose investors to a range of digital assets. Coinbase would be the custodian for that fund.