Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson discusses the launch of Benji, a tokenized money market fund on Stellar, and explains why blockchain technology is transforming asset management and financial services infrastructure.
In this interview at Meridian, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson discusses the company's blockchain journey, including the launch of Benji, a tokenized yield-bearing money market fund on Stellar that has grown to nearly 300 million in assets. Johnson explains why Franklin Templeton chose Stellar for its low gas fees, security features, permissioned validators, and developer-friendly approach. She discusses cross-chain expansion to Polygon and other networks, plans to disrupt ETFs through on-chain infrastructure, and the company's recent Bitcoin ETF filing. Johnson emphasizes that blockchain is the greatest disruption to financial services, not Bitcoin itself, and highlights the importance of CEO support for internal innovation teams when navigating regulatory requirements.
