Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson is known to have personally invested in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Uniswap UNI
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These investments are “small compared to my overall portfolio,” Johnson told Fortune in an interview published Saturday. This appears to be the first time Johnson has publicly disclosed his cryptocurrency investments.
But Johnson doesn’t seem to be a fan of non-fungible tokens. Not all NFTs make sense from a personal investment perspective, she said, noting that she prefers mature investments that offer a clear financial return.
“I tend to invest in areas where I can see a financial return, because I think I have a better chance of success there,” she said. “There are things like the art of NFTs where if two people like it, it will find a market price. So there will be opportunities in that space. Not everyone is going to make it, not everyone is going to make it, but there are going to be people who are going to make it. It will be.”
Johnson approves Bitcoin ETF
Franklin Templeton, which manages more than $1.3 trillion in assets, applied for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission last September. The SEC has not yet approved a spot Bitcoin ETF. Asked when regulators might approve such a product, Johnson said the timeline for approval was uncertain, noting that regulators were working to determine the best approach and should approve it at the appropriate time.
Several asset managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have sought approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs. “There is clearly demand for Bitcoin and we believe a spot ETF is a better way to access Bitcoin,” Johnson said.
Johnson on blockchain democratizing private markets
Franklin Templeton has been actively exploring and adopting blockchain technology. In 2021, we launched a tokenized money market fund and a separate cryptocurrency-focused managed account. It is also a blockchain node validator. Johnson said in the interview that Franklin Templeton is a “big believer” in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Johnson said blockchain technology will help enable the democratization of private markets, among other things. “Because this technology eliminates the friction costs associated with processing transactions. And if you can reduce the friction of transactions, you can more easily securitize or split ownership of things that were too difficult to consider operationally,” she said. . “Instead, it makes it much easier to create and transfer ownership of otherwise difficult-to-handle assets.”
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