Christopher Jensen sat down with Binance’s Jessica Walker to shed light on the digital asset strategy of Franklin Templeton for the near future.
Institutional adoption is getting real: massive institutions are now entering the space with tangible commitments.
Stablecoins are crypto’s killer app, forming the base currency pair for all tokenized real-world assets, which is the next frontier in the blockchain innovation space.
“This time, it’s actually happening. Institutions are coming.”
– Christopher Jensen, Director of Digital Asset Research, Franklin Templeton.
In the latest edition of Binance Studios’ interviews, Jessica Walker sat down with Christopher Jensen, Director of Digital Asset Research at Franklin Templeton, to unpack how one of the world’s largest asset managers is positioning itself in the age of stablecoins, tokenized assets, and institutional DeFi.
From tokenized treasuries to real-world assets (RWAs), Jensen breaks down why 2025 marks a global inflection point, the moment traditional finance and blockchain finally converge.
"When I look at 2025 versus last year, what jumps out is just how much more globally focused we are."
— Christopher Jensen
Jensen opened the interview by reflecting on Franklin Templeton’s shift from U.S.-centric incubation to global expansion.
In prior years, Franklin’s digital-asset experiments were mostly developed in its U.S. offices: internal pilots and tokenization proofs-of-concept. Now, the focus has shifted outward.
“We’ve been primarily incubating these products and strategies in the United States,” Jensen said. “But now it’s about how do we take them global – registering these security tokens in different jurisdictions around the world.”
Franklin Templeton is now active across nine public blockchains, expanding both at the infrastructure layer and the regulatory layer. It’s a push that aligns with the firm’s broader mission: to embed blockchain rails directly into global capital markets.
Recently, Binance and Franklin Templeton have collaborated to create innovative digital-asset products that bridge traditional finance and blockchain. The partnership leverages Franklin Templeton’s expertise in compliant tokenization and Binance’s global trading infrastructure to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility in capital markets.
“There’s this surround sound recognition — it’s actually happening. Institutions are really coming.”
Jensen’s key message throughout the conversation: institutional adoption is no longer theoretical.
After seven years of exploration, pilots, and “proof-of-concept fatigue,” the big players, from sovereign wealth funds to pensions and endowments, are now making tangible moves.
“Earlier on, we’d see institutions explore this technology, maybe do a proof of concept here or there,” Jensen explained.
“But the big takeaway this year is that it’s actually happening right now. The appetite is there. The timing is right.”
He called 2025 an inflection point where DeFi and TradFi are finally converging, creating the foundation for the next wave of growth.
Jensen confirmed that ETFs and ETPs have been critical on-ramps for institutions entering digital assets. These vehicles give traditional investors the comfort of regulated access while still capturing crypto’s upside.
But he emphasized that interest now extends beyond those products:
“The ETF or ETP is a great way to dip your toe in. But we’re also seeing an appetite for exposure that goes beyond what’s offered in those products.”
This new class of investors wants direct access to on-chain assets, exploring yields, stablecoin liquidity pools, and tokenized credit opportunities — a far cry from the “curiosity-only” phase of previous years.
“Stablecoins are one of crypto’s earliest killer apps,” noted Christopher.
Few narratives have dominated 2025 like stablecoins. To Jensen, they represent crypto’s first product-market fit at scale — fast, borderless, dollar-pegged money.
“The ability to send a digital dollar anywhere in the world, for under a second, for under a penny, without intermediaries — that’s a zero-to-one moment,” he emphasized.
Stablecoins are revolutionizing payment systems, and they are also acting as the currency pair for everything else — from tokenized treasuries to RWAs. They power yield-bearing protocols, on-chain settlements, and portfolio stability.
“Stablecoins provide the foundation,” Jensen added. “They’re the base layer for DeFi and tokenized finance alike.”
And the data backs it up: stablecoin charts are “one of the best-looking in crypto,” Jensen said, pointing to a consistent up-and-to-the-right growth in TVL, volume, and usage.
As regulation catches up — notably with the advent of the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill — institutional confidence is expected to surge even further.
“It’s encouraging that we now have the first piece in place,” Jensen said. “We know there’s more coming, and that gives people confidence.”
Jensen lit up when talking about tokenization. “We’re going to see a lot more done in private credit and private markets,” he said. “And beyond that, you’ll have non-financial assets — tokenized whiskeys, collectibles — all part of your portfolio.”
The result is a truly diversified on-chain portfolio consisting of:
Crypto-native assets
Real-world assets (RWAs)
Collectibles and lifestyle tokens
“Tokenization is what opens all that up,” Jensen said. “It’s going to reshape how we think about what belongs in a digital wallet.”
Imagine logging into your wallet and seeing U.S. Treasuries, stablecoins, NFTs, and tokenized real estate — all coexisting in one portfolio view.
Jensen closed with optimism for what’s coming in 2026. The collision of on-chain and traditional finance is unfolding across infrastructure, regulation, and demand.
As Franklin Templeton and peers like BlackRock race to modernize market infrastructure, the once-siloed crypto and TradFi ecosystems are merging into one integrated digital economy.
This isn’t “crypto versus Wall Street” anymore, but rather the era of crypto’s synergy with Wall Street.
Franklin Templeton is expanding its digital-asset strategy globally across nine public blockchains.
Institutional adoption has moved from curiosity to action: “this time it’s actually happening.”
Stablecoins remain the killer app, powering payments, yields, and tokenized markets.
Tokenization is making every asset class — from treasuries to collectibles — investable on-chain.
The convergence of DeFi and TradFi defines 2025, setting up 2026 as the next major adoption wave.
Christopher Jensen conversation with Jessica Walker
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