Franklin Templeton says Wall Street fears blockchain because it threatens its profits
Jenny Johnson, Franklin Templeton’s CEO, said blockchain and crypto threaten a huge number of business models that exist today in traditional finance.
What to know:
- Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson said major financial firms are slow to adopt public blockchains because the technology threatens lucrative fee-based business models built on intermediating transactions.
- Johnson cited the firm’s tokenized money market fund, Benji, to argue that running transactions on public networks like Stellar is dramatically cheaper than legacy systems and is driving traditional players on-chain.
- While acknowledging that bitcoin enables self-custody and privacy, Johnson maintained that most investors will still want regulated custodians and standardized, low-cost compliance rails as institutional wealth moves into digital assets.
“This technology threatens a huge number of business models that exist today in traditional finance,” Johnson stated bluntly. “If you see any kind of hesitation, it’s because there is a threat to the business model. Think about the toll-takers in a transaction.”
She explained that if a blockchain can handle settlement instantly via a smart contract, large banks can no longer collect transaction fees as third-party intermediaries.
While crypto-native networks favor open architecture, traditional financial systems are beginning to migrate to public networks due to the significant transaction efficiencies. To demonstrate the cost savings, Johnson cited Franklin Templeton’s history running its tokenized money market fund, Benji, on public networks.
