The SEC is trying to protect the economy, but Roger Bayston observes a change in their attitude.
Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets, Roger Byaston, says that financial innovators are being patient with the SEC and that fair.
At the Consensus event, Byatson said to Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright:
“The SEC, like a lot of regulatory bodies, likes to rely on legal precedents. […] Those precedents are being set in courts of law oftentimes, so this is just the process we’re engaged in.”
Bayston believes that the agency is protecting the economy, and their attitude is not tolerable despite common doubts about the SEC’s “open door” policy.
“We wouldn’t be in the business for 76 years — the business of trust — if we didn’t have some discipline and persistence and collaborative behavior with the global regulators we face.”
Comparing this year to previous years, Bayston pointed out that the SEC is seeing changes.
“we’ve been pleasantly engaged with the SEC […] and we’re excited as they shift and change their tone,” he stated.
In 2023, Franklin Templeton introduced the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, or “Benji,” but getting there was “practically a five-year journey with them [the SEC], helping to illuminate them and educate them on the uses of blockchain technology in operating mutual funds.”
Crypto Boosts Blockchain Technology’s Value
Bayston contrasts stablecoins with tokenized money funds. The operator receives money from the saver, invests it, returns it, and keeps its profits.
“Banks and money funds have existed side-by-side for multiple decades. I think this is the same construct that is likely to move forward,” Bayston stated.
Franklin Templeton is optimistic about cryptocurrency, Byaston mentions:
“We believe in the technologies and therefore we believe that the [crypto] tokens, properly structured, represent value for these technologies.”
He said that crypto has become as significant to investment portfolios as technology stocks did thirty years ago.
Following other applicants, Franklin Templeton filed their application with the SEC to become an exchange-traded fund for spot ether. After delaying its decision until June 11, the SEC approved it on May 23 along with the others.
This didn’t shock Byaston. They were “not trying to give anybody an advantage in this nascent marketplace,” he mentioned.
