Exclusive Interview with Dongqu: The $1.6 Trillion Giant Franklin Senior VP Chetan's Mindset Update: How Franklin is Revolutionizing Wall Street Through Blockchain

Managing over $1.6 trillion at Franklin Templeton, a prominent asset manager, has recently been actively promoting tokenization and the RWA ecosystem. They have now issued tokenized U.S. bonds and begun trading them on Wall Street. Doinqu is pleased to have an in-depth conversation with Franklin’s Senior VP Chetan Karkhanis. This article thanks global broker LTP for providing the venue and invitation.
(Background: London Stock Exchange announces the creation of a Digital Securities Custody Service supporting tokenized bonds, stocks, and private assets on-chain settlement)
(Additional context: Binance deepens collaboration with Franklin Templeton: tokenized money market funds can be used as OTC collateral, with institutional plans launching)

Table of Contents

• Web3 needs education to bring more traditional Wall Street players onboard
• Will Web 3.0 experience a “dot-com bubble” moment like in the 1990s and 2000s?
• The $20 democratization experiment

Visitor Background

Chetan Karkhanis is currently Senior Vice President at Franklin Templeton. His investment career began in the 1990s during the TMT (Telecom, Media, and Technology) and dot-com bubble burst, and he has held key roles at other globally renowned asset management firms such as JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Currently, Chetan oversees Asia-Pacific strategic ventures (Franklin Templeton Strategic Ventures, FTSV). His role is not only as an investor but also as the driver of digital transformation for this 76-year-old asset management company in Asia.

Web3 needs education to bring more traditional Wall Street players onboard

Doinqu Alex: Franklin hosted the “Change the Soch” event in India. Given the current volatility in the crypto market, what kind of “therapy” does Wall Street need?

Chetan: We have an event called “Change the Soch” in India. Originally aimed at educating specific female investors, I believe changing mindsets is entirely applicable to Web3. Web3 concepts like RWA and tokenization are still in early stages, and traditional financial institutions need to join Web3 and change their thinking. This isn’t about therapy but about education and raising awareness.

Will Web 3.0 experience a “dot-com bubble” moment like in the 1990s and 2000s?

Doinqu Alex: You started your investment career researching the TMT sector in the late 1990s and experienced the full cycle of the internet bubble. Do you think the current tokenization craze is a replay of history?

Chetan: That’s a good question, combining my 25 years of experience. Looking at history, there are some similarities, but also clear differences.

The similarities are: the Web3 space has indeed seen excessive enthusiasm, hype, and subsequent price volatility. Also, early on, prices were driven up by small groups; as more individuals and institutions entered, liquidity increased but volatility remained. However, this is fundamentally different from the dot-com crash of 2000.

Back then, the bubble was driven by revenue — many companies achieved high valuations without any revenue at all. The market overestimated the value that internet technology could deliver at the time. That was Web 1.0, before e-commerce, mobile, and cloud computing matured. But as these infrastructures matured, it proved that the early arguments weren’t wrong — they were just premature.

I see parallels with cryptocurrencies as well. The core thesis of blockchain itself has no inherent risk. Today’s corrections are just normal price discovery. As institutional activity possibly shifts toward risk-off, we will ultimately see a healthy return to realism, guiding more institutions to realize the true value of blockchain.

There are similarities, like hype and volatility, but the essence is different. The 2000 bubble involved overvalued companies with zero revenue, overestimating the technology’s potential. Today’s blockchain thesis is solid. The current correction is just price discovery; with institutional participation, we will see a more grounded realism.

The $20 democratization experiment

Q: You’re working with DBS to lower the tokenized fund entry threshold to $20. Is this cost-effective? The KYC costs alone probably exceed the profits, right?

Chetan: You’re right; it’s a challenge. But lowering the threshold to $20 aims to demonstrate blockchain’s ability to democratize investment. As for costs, that’s a business problem for intermediaries to solve. I believe that with advances in AI and technology, KYC and operational costs will decrease significantly. We can’t let costs block mass participation in the financial ecosystem.

Additional note: Franklin, in partnership with DBS, has lowered the entry barrier for its tokenized money market fund to $20.

In traditional finance logic, this is almost “suicidal” — the compliance costs (KYC/AML) for a $20 customer far exceed the profits. But they are betting on future technological dividends: through AI and blockchain collaboration, compliance costs will be exponentially compressed. This isn’t about short-term balance sheets but about shaping the next-generation financial infrastructure standards.

Chetan is driving Franklin’s tokenization platform Benji, positioning Franklin not just as a traditional asset manager but as an innovator and technology pioneer.

Doinqu Alex: Looking five to ten years ahead, when people talk about Chetan and Franklin Templeton, do you want them to remember Benji, your innovative product, or the cultural change you brought to this old company? Which achievement is more difficult?

Chetan: I really enjoy this question — it’s one of the most thought-provoking I’ve encountered in a long time. I believe these two are not mutually exclusive. If I become known for raising significant assets, promoting Benji and tokenization, and at the same time showing that Franklin is not just a traditional manager but an innovative, tech-savvy, forward-looking organization, I’d consider that a success. I don’t see them as mutually exclusive.

Additional: Benji is Franklin Templeton’s proprietary blockchain platform for issuing and managing tokenized financial assets. It’s a core tool for traditional finance (TradFi) to transition into Web3.

It now supports Stellar, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Ethereum, Aptos, Base, Solana, and the latest BNB Chain, as well as institutional private chains like Canton, designed for regulators.

In February this year, Franklin partnered with Binance to launch an institutional OTC collateral plan. Qualified institutional clients can use tokenized fund shares issued via Benji as collateral for trading on Binance, with assets securely stored in regulated custody environments (like Ceffu), effectively reducing counterparty risk.