Counterfeiting is “protection on steroids” – Franklin Templeton CEO

Securitization, a practice with more than 50 years of history, is undergoing dramatic change, believes Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton.

During CNBC's Delivering Alpha event, Johnson mentioned that tokenization — the process of converting property ownership rights into digital tokens on the blockchain — is synonymous with “security on steroids” to describe something that goes beyond expectations.

Johnson's comments were part of an analysis of the future of alternative investment vehicles. The availability of capital and technology disruption is attracting more companies and CEOs to invest in “things of the future” like blockchain technology, the executive said. Johnson said:

“One, it allows for a payment method. Number two, it allows for smart contracts to be programmed into the token. All three is a ledger, so it has a source of truth. So whoever owns that token, all the rights in that token are given to that person.”

Johnson used Rihanna as an example to illustrate her point. In February, the singer released one of his popular songs as a nonfungible token (NFT), allowing holders to receive a partial royalty payment on streaming. “My favorite example is Rihanna,” she said of the NFT collection, which debuted before the Super Bowl.

“I know she is testing the market in these 300 NFTs […]. Well, why would she do that? She can do it because when Spotify plays a Rihanna song, it takes the smart contract, executes it, and says, ‘I owe you royalties so no one else gets involved here.' And he can take a fractional payment and go to Frank, a huge Rihanna fan.

According to Johnson, athletes can benefit from tokenization:

“Think [about] Athletes are about to sign big contracts. ‘I'm going to sell tokens worth 10% of my future revenue stream' to their supporters. I'm going to sell 100,000 tokens and boom, the backers are probably going to pay a premium for it. So it would be way and if you think about it, it's just protection on steroids.

1/ The future is tokenized culture.

Franklin Templeton's Jenny Johnson nails it on CNBC's ‘Delivering Alpha.'

– Token = safety on steroids

– Cultural IP Token via NFT Royalty Streams.

Rhianna is creating the modern day ‘Bowie Bonds' for fans who can… pic.twitter.com/Vrfqyne7SM

— Ram Ahluwalia, higher for crypto CFA (@ramahluwalia) September 30, 2023

Johnson has been with Franklin Templeton for more than 30 years and currently sits on the company's executive leadership as president and CEO. Franklin, a $1.5 trillion asset manager with offices around the world, is one of the Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for companies awaiting regulatory approval in the United States.

Magazine: Introducing music royalties as NFTs could help find the next Taylor Swift.