Jenny Johnson, the CEO of Franklin Templeton, a leading global investment management firm with over $1.6 trillion in assets, has recently shed light on the massive scale of Bitcoin’s ecosystem.
In a conversation at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Johnson expressed her surprise at the lack of awareness among traditional financial institutions regarding the sheer volume of Bitcoin transactions.
In 2023, the Bitcoin blockchain processed over $36.6 trillion in transactions, a figure that dwarfs the combined transaction volumes of global payment giants Mastercard and Visa, which handled $9 trillion and $14.8 trillion, respectively, during the same period.
Johnson’s comments underscore the significant disconnect between the established financial world and the rapidly evolving digital asset landscape.
As a proponent of disruptive technologies, Johnson spends approximately 30% of her day-to-day work examining various forms of emerging trends, with a particular focus on digital assets and artificial intelligence.
She believes these two areas are critical to the future of the financial industry and has been actively positioning Franklin Templeton at the forefront of these developments.
Johnson’s insights come at a time when traditional financial firms are gradually embracing blockchain technology.
Companies like Mastercard and Visa have made strides in incorporating crypto payments into their networks, while Franklin Templeton has launched several Bitcoin-related products, including a blockchain-based money market fund and a proposed exchange-traded fund.
The CEO’s comments serve as a wake-up call for traditional finance to recognize the immense potential and scale of Bitcoin and the broader digital asset ecosystem.