Tokenization is “securitization done on steroids” — Franklin Templeton CEO

Jenny Johnson, chief executive of Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset managers, believes that securitization, a practice with more than 50 years of history, is undergoing a dramatic change.

During CNBC’s Delivering Alpha event, Johnson famous Tokenization—the process of converting ownership of an asset into digital tokens on the blockchain—is similar to “securitization on steroids,” a term often used to describe something that exceeds expectations.

Johnson’s remarks were analyze The future of alternative investment vehicles. The executive noted that available capital and technological disruption have attracted more companies and CEOs to invest in “future-proof things” such as blockchain technology. Johnson said:

“One is that it allows for payment mechanisms. Second, it allows smart contracts to be programmed into the token. Third, because it is a ledger, it has a source of truth. So no matter who owns the token, all of the Rights are vested in that person.”

Johnson used Rihanna as an example to illustrate her point. In February, the singer released a popular song in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT), allowing holders to earn a portion of royalties through streaming. “My favorite example is Rihanna,” she said of the NFT line she launched ahead of the Super Bowl.

“I know she was just testing the market with these 300 NFTs (…). So why can she do this? She can do this because when Spotify plays a Rihanna song, it can capture the smart contract, execute it and say : “I owe royalties here, so no one needs to be involved. “It could send part of the payment to Frank, a huge Rihanna fan.”

Johnson said athletes could also benefit from tokenization:

“Think of athletes signing a big contract. They’ll say to fans ‘I’m going to sell tokens worth 10% of my future revenue stream. I’m going to sell 100,000 tokens and fans will probably pay a premium for that. So this It would be a way that, if you think about it, it’s just securitization done on steroids.”

Johnson has been with Franklin Templeton for more than 30 years and currently serves as president and chief executive officer of the company’s executive leadership team. Franklin, an asset management firm with $1.5 trillion in assets and offices around the world, is among the companies waiting for U.S. regulators to approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Magazine: Tokenizing music royalties into NFTs could help the next Taylor Swift