Scott Melker opens with a Bitcoin bottom-signal discussion—more than half of BTC supply is underwater around $62K—but quickly pivots to a broader interview with Sandy Kaul of Franklin Templeton. Kaul argues the selloff is constructive for institutions: it creates better entry points, helps Franklin Templeton hire talent, and accelerates education around crypto and tokenization. The core thesis is that blockchain, wallets, and tokenized assets are becoming the future financial infrastructure, with AI agents and tokenized money markets as near-term bridges to that world.
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The final structural point is that tokenization may outpace previous financial transitions faster than people expect. Kaul says she first wrote about tokenization overtaking equities and bonds back in 2017 and now believes the industry has reached a major milestone: nearly every regulator and institution sees tokens as the future wrapper. She estimates tokenization could begin taking meaningful share from traditional financial products within three years and could become a majority wrapper within about a decade—potentially faster than the mutual fund to ETF transition. The interview closes on a strong long-term conviction that wallets, tokens, and AI-driven financial management will redefine how portfolios are held and optimized.
Near term, BTC looks tactically fragile until ETF outflows stop and the forced-selling pressure eases. The pullback can still become a tradable low, but only if capitulation peaks and liquidity doesn’t keep migrating into IPOs and other risk trades.
Over the next few months, the more likely path is a choppy stabilization followed by a selective rebound if institutional buying persists and product flows improve. The setup improves materially when ETF selling slows and tokenization headlines start translating into actual wallet/product usage.
Structurally, the interview argues that tokenized assets and wallet-based finance will become the new operating system for markets. If that thesis plays out, the long-run winners are the infrastructure, distribution, and custody layers that make tokenized finance usable at scale.
More than 50% of all Bitcoin purchased is currently at a loss around $62K, which is being discussed as a possible bottom signal but not a definitive one.
The opening premise is that underwater supply resembles the 2022 bottom setup, though the speaker says the metric may not be very meaningful.
This selloff is an opportunity for institutions because it creates better entry points and helps Franklin Templeton build capabilities and hire talent.
Kaul explicitly says the downturn gives the firm breathing room and attracts talent while increasing institutional education efforts.
Institutions dislike entering bull markets and prefer to build positions when assets have already lost some shine.
This is presented as a behavioral explanation for why institutional flows can be constructive during drawdowns.
Does the Bitcoin sell-off impacting your work or building at Franklin Templeton, or do you see concerns in your institutional conversations?
Sandy says it's actually the opposite — the sell-off gives them breathing room to build capabilities, pick up talent, and educate institutions who prefer entering when prices are lower. Institutions hate bull markets and like getting better entry points for long-term positions, so they're seeing more incoming interest.
Can you talk through Franklin Templeton's acquisition of the liquid strategies from CoinFund and the major expansion you're doing?
Sandy explains Franklin Templeton is an active investment manager that sees digital assets as the biggest growth area outside AI. Institutions want trusted managers who can deploy big tickets into blockchain-based business models via tokens. She compares it to the hedge fund industry exploding from $800M to nearly $3T in three years, saying they're at the starting line for those flows.
Why do you think there's such a disconnect between institutional and retail sentiment, and how do you decide what protocols to invest in versus avoid?
Sandy says Franklin Templeton does deep fundamental analysis of coins — looking at business model revenue support, how revenue translates to token holders, and which tokens have the best business proposition. They were attracted to CoinFund's similar deep-analysis approach. She highlights AI agents and global financial infrastructure being recreated on blockchain rails as the two biggest trends, and says they have 100% faith in public blockchains being accessible to everyone.
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