Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson suggests that the slow adoption of public blockchains by major financial institutions stems from a simple conflict: the technology effectively dismantles traditional fee-based revenue models.
During the Proof of Talk summit in Paris, Johnson, who manages $1.74 trillion in assets, explained that resistance from legacy financial players is not rooted in technical skepticism, but rather in the protection of existing business models. Banks and intermediaries that profit from transaction fees throughout the settlement process face significant revenue losses when smart contracts can perform the same functions at a fraction of the cost.
Johnson highlighted the firm’s tokenized money market fund, Benji, to illustrate these cost efficiencies. Processing 50,000 transactions via legacy systems cost $1.30 per transaction, whereas the same volume processed on the Stellar blockchain cost only $1.13 per transaction—a significant saving when scaled to institutional levels.
This discussion coincided with Franklin Templeton’s announcement of a new partnership with MoonPay, which allows institutional investors to transition between stablecoins and the firm’s tokenized fund through an on-chain workflow. Franklin Templeton has been one of the most aggressive legacy asset managers in the digital asset space, having established a dedicated digital assets team in 2018, well before tokenization became a mainstream institutional trend.
Expanding the Crypto Ecosystem
Launched in 2021, Benji became the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to utilize a public blockchain as its official system of record for recording share ownership and processing transactions. While the fund invests primarily in U.S. Treasury securities, the blockchain integration is used exclusively for operational efficiency rather than providing direct cryptocurrency exposure.
Regarding bitcoin, the firm introduced the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (ticker: EZBC), a passive vehicle holding bitcoin and cash for investors seeking price exposure without the complexities of self-custody. Additionally, the firm provides a separately managed account offering dynamic allocation between bitcoin and ethereum for active investors.
In April 2026, Franklin Templeton announced the acquisition of 250 Digital, a spinoff from CoinFund. This merger created a new division, Franklin Crypto, dedicated to institutional-scale active cryptocurrency investment strategies. Notably, the acquisition was one of the first M&A transactions structured on-chain, with BENJI tokens used as part of the payment. The firm’s digital assets division currently manages approximately $1.8 billion in assets.