- Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has reportedly invested personally in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, as well as governance tokens for Uniswap and SushiSwap.
- Johnson stated, “I tend to invest in things that I think are generally based on financial returns because I think there’s a better chance of success there.”
- Franklin Templeton, a company with over $1.3 trillion in assets under management, applied for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the SEC in September.
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson Reveals Personal Crypto Investments: What Coins are in Jenny Johnson’s Portfolio?
The CEO of the company Discloses Her Invested Assets
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has reportedly invested personally in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, as well as governance tokens for Uniswap and SushiSwap. Johnson, speaking in an interview published on Saturday with Fortune, mentioned that these investments are “small for my overall portfolio.” This seems to be the first time Johnson has publicly disclosed her crypto investments.
However, Johnson does not seem to be a fan of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Preferring mature investments with clear financial returns, she emphasized that not all NFTs make sense from a personal investment perspective.
“I tend to invest in things that I think are generally based on financial returns because I think there’s a better chance of success there,” she said, adding, “As in an NFT, if two people love it, they will find a market price for it. And so, there will be opportunities in that space. Not all will be successful, not all will be good, but some will be successful.”
Franklin Templeton, a company with over $1.3 trillion in assets under management, applied for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the SEC in September. The SEC has not yet approved a spot Bitcoin ETF. When asked about when the regulator could approve such a product, Johnson stated that it’s uncertain about the approval timeline and that regulators are working to determine the best approach, indicating that it will take time for approvals.
Many asset managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have applied for approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs. Johnson stated, “There is clearly demand for Bitcoin, and I believe a spot ETF is a better way to access Bitcoin.”
Johnson expressed her views on blockchain democratizing private markets
Franklin Templeton actively explores and embraces blockchain technology. In 2021, it launched a tokenized money market fund and crypto-focused separately managed accounts. It also acts as a blockchain node validator. Johnson stated in the interview that Franklin Templeton has “a big belief” in the crypto and blockchain space.
Johnson believes that blockchain technology, among its many benefits, will help democratize private markets. “It eliminates the friction costs of processing transactions because technology can reduce the friction in representing or distributing ownership of assets that operationally were very difficult to think about processing with transactions,” she said, adding, “Instead, you can create and transfer ownership of these difficult-to-process assets.”
