Bitcoin
Jenny Johnson, the third generation leader of managers, spoke at the Salt Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Tuesday.
In her view, Bitcoin acts as a “terror currency.” This is an economic shelter for countries where governments can block access to funds, or where domestic currencies lose value over time. But despite her charm in these scenarios, she sees it as a distraction.
She argues that Bitcoin is “the biggest distraction against one of the biggest disruptions coming to financial services.”
The confusion lies in the underlying infrastructure, she said. It is not in the digital assets themselves, but in the systems that support them. That’s where she believes capital should be concentrated.
“Picks and shovels are the baselines for powerful, layered apps,” Johnson said. “I like rails as a starting point,” she adds, referring to blockchain networks. “And then there are some great consumer apps that come out.
She also sees promise in the role of validators, the entity that maintains blockchain networks. For active investment managers, they are “game changers” that can provide a new layer of transparency.
“Imagine every transaction that comes and goes in and out of the company with public equity and how much information you’ll give you,” she said.
Johnson led his asset management company to digital assets after taking over the family’s company in 2020. Under her leadership, the company launched multiple crypto exchange sales products and introduced the Onchain US Government Market Fund, a tokenized investment vehicle.
She hopes that financial products such as mutual funds and ETFs will eventually move to blockchain. But for now, she said the regulations remain the “biggest inhibitor” of that shift.
Part of the hesitation comes from the number of digital assets that are likely to fail, she added. The level of risk regulators is not yet ready to be managed.
