Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson believes that Bitcoin investment is still in its nascent phase and that the significant influx of institutional money into the asset class is yet to come.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Johnson remarked, ”This is really the first wave of the early adopters, and I think the next wave is the much bigger institutions.”
Johnson anticipates that institutional interest will continue to grow as initially hesitant investors and fund managers become more comfortable with managing digital assets and understanding their underlying technologies.
A strong advocate for blockchain innovation, Johnson has previously expressed her vision that all exchange-traded funds and mutual funds will eventually exist on the blockchain. She cited lower data processing costs and innovative use cases as key reasons for her support of blockchain technologies and digital assets.
Johnson shared that Franklin Templeton conducted an experiment comparing traditional data processing systems with blockchain-based systems. The results showed a dramatic reduction in costs when using blockchain for data transmission.
Highlighting novel applications of digital assets, Johnson pointed to Rihanna’s use of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to tokenize royalty rights to her song ”B-tch Better Have My Money,” allowing NFT holders to own a share of the song’s royalties.
Johnson described tokenization as ”securitization done on steroids,” emphasizing its potential to unlock previously inaccessible liquidity and value within hard assets and digital property rights. She also noted the potential for these technologies to create new asset classes and markets, including non-financial assets like collectibles, memberships, and subscriptions through NFTs and other tokens.
As the CEO of a $1.6-trillion asset management firm, Johnson’s insights reflect a growing recognition of the transformative potential of blockchain and digital assets in the financial industry.
Featured image from: cointelegraph.com