Bitcoin and crypto seem to be on the brink of mainstream adoption, with US spot exchange sales funds (ETFs) able to break the inflow record, and Goldman Sachs owns more crypto ETF stocks issued by BlackRock than other institutions, and the Treasury of companies, from strategy to bewildered digital assets.
However, a recent survey from Bank of America showed that three-quarters of global fund managers remained immobilized. Refusing to touch digital assets.
According to Max Gokman, Associate Chief Investment Officer at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, the paradoxical numbers are not due to regulatory uncertainty or operational complexity.
In an interview with EncryptionGokhman said the skewed numbers stem from fear, misunderstanding, and industry struggles to abandon fear, misunderstanding, and deep beliefs about what constitutes legitimate investment.
Gokman has been watching the grapple of traditional finance with the digital asset revolution for years. He pointed out:
“The biggest reason is that it takes some time for established industries to realize that they are behind. There is this unknown fear that exists.”
Stewardship Paradox
While fund managers take pride in the trustee’s responsibilities, this protective instinct has created a paradox. The desire to protect client assets prevents managers from increasingly demanding client opportunities.
According to Gokhman:
“Part of being a great steward is that you are aware of what your clients want. Clients from the retail to institutional level are more interested in digital assets, but investment managers are actually not there in the solution.”
Resistance is caused by persistent misunderstanding. One concept is that it’s all super-special and unworthy, while the other is that there is a lack of staff with the expertise to use digital assets to create legitimate investment solutions.
Memecoin trap
When Gokhman encounters a skeptical colleague, the conversation follows a predictable script. Traditional finance stubborns reveal what Memecoins refers to as representatives of the entire crypto ecosystem, revealing what he called surface-level understanding.
Just as the stock market ranges from blue chip dividends to speculative biotechnology, digital assets range from established protocols to purely speculative tokens that generate real revenue.
His response became automatic:
“You invest in stocks, so does that mean you buy pink sheet penny stocks? High-yield liabilities have many companies where most reasonable investors don’t touch a 10-foot pole. Most asset managers say they own emerging market stocks and tormented liabilities. That’s a key asset class for them.”
Goffman emphasized that skepticism is selective. Managers are comfortable holding Venezuelan bonds, instruments that defaulted multiple times, but with Bitcoin, they never missed a payment after 15 years.
Fund managers discuss Crypto’s legitimacy, but the market is quietly changing. The data cited by Gokhman introduced the story of retail goods. 89% of exchanges’ Bitcoin transactions exceed $100,000. He emphasized:
“It’s not retail money. The market is more institutionalized.”
Educational challenges
Franklin Templeton’s response includes a three-tier campaign targeting central bankers, institutional intermediaries and retail investors. The key middle tier consists of wirehouses and platform owners who remain ignorant of client demand, while controlling access to millions.
Goffman asks if these players asked their clients if they wanted a code. He adds:
“They may have a Coinbase account that has most of their wealth. You’re not catching it.”
Traditional advisors often discover fragmented wealth across the platform, and professionally managed portfolios are portfolios that contain any of the digital assets that clients do not accumulate independently.
Franklin Templeton’s breakthrough lies in translation: expressing the concept of blockchain in traditional financial language. When analyzing Solana, they calculate discounted cash flows rather than evoking revolutionary rhetoric.
Gorkman explained:
“If there are things like Solana where all transactions are paid for actual fees, we can predict the growth of these transactions, which are future cash flows.
This approach understands digital assets by applying familiar analytical frameworks that investors with basic valuation training can understand.
It all comes to surrender
As the Federal Reserve cuts approach, Gokman sees an opportunity. Traditional sources of yields offer reduced returns, just as institutions face pressure to generate revenue, and crypto can provide alternatives.
According to him:
“Everyone needs income. Staking is one clear way to do that. When people tell us that this (crypto) is a scam, are you worried that the government will just cancel all your debts? I’m because that’s what happened.”
Recent Second guidance on liquid staking Represents a potential inflection point. Regulated products can offer staking yields without the need for direct cryptographic ownership.
If Crypto ETFs enable staking, Gokhman predicts that resistance will not last indefinitely. He predicted:
“When you can give yields, I think it will drive more adoption.”
The conversion can suddenly accelerate. Institutional adoption often follows a pattern of skepticism that persists until competitive pressures force massive movements.
The Great Crypto gap lasts between 75% of fund managers who stick to familiar frameworks and the growing coalition that recognizes that client services need to embrace technological change.
The question is not whether this disparity closes as economic pressures guarantee final adoption. The question is which managers will lead and which will scramble to catch up.
It is mentioned in this article
