Franklin Templeton CEO Criticizes Traditional Finance for Undervaluing Bitcoin

Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, criticized traditional finance at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium for underestimating the size of Bitcoin. She pointed out that in 2023 Bitcoin processed more than $36.60 trillion in transactions, which is twice the amount of Mastercard and Visa combined. Johnson believes that the traditional financial sector knows almost nothing about Bitcoin and its huge transaction volume.
Johnson said she spends 30% of her day researching disruptive technologies, particularly digital assets and artificial intelligence. She emphasized that while Mastercard and Visa are actively exploring blockchain technology, they still do not fully appreciate the scale of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Franklin Templeton has quickly become a leader in traditional financial asset management under Johnson's leadership. In 2021, the company launched the first OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) to record transactions using a public blockchain. Recently, Franklin Templeton submitted a proposal to the Securities Exchange Commission to launch a new exchange-traded fund (EZPZ) that will expose investors to a variety of digital assets, and Coinbase will be responsible for the custody of the fund.