This article explores how Franklin Templeton leveraged Stellar's open infrastructure to launch the first registered money market fund on a blockchain in 2021, demonstrating the "permissionless premium"—the ability to experiment, learn, and build without approval. The piece illustrates how open systems enable unexpected innovations, like Securrency's clawback feature that became critical for regulatory compliance, and create unpredictable adoption pathways that centralized platforms cannot.
Franklin Templeton, a $1.5 trillion asset manager, surprised the crypto industry by launching the first registered money market fund on Stellar in April 2021, moving faster than fintech startups by building without seeking permission. The article introduces the concept of the "permissionless premium"—a compound advantage of experimenting privately, benefiting from unplanned innovations, moving faster than committees, and capturing value through unexpected pathways. The author details how Franklin Templeton tested blockchain infrastructure in stealth from 2019 onward, and how Securrency independently developed clawback functionality on Stellar to address regulatory requirements for asset recovery. This feature, built without coordination between the companies, became essential for Franklin Templeton's SEC approval and institutional adoption. The article argues that open infrastructure creates unpredictable adoption routes—exemplified by Securrency's acquisition by DTCC and the resulting blockchain expertise now embedded in the world's largest settlement organization. It contrasts open systems with corporate blockchains that maintain gatekeeping control, emphasizing that infrastructure choices made today will compound switching costs and determine whether asymmetric returns from unexpected builders and use cases can materialize.
