$1.5 Trillion Fund Franklin Templeton Starts Memeing On X: How Crypto Culture Infiltrates Finance

The cryptocurrency industry watched in awe as Spot Bitcoin BTC/USD ETF issuer Franklin Templeton handed control of its X (formerly Twitter) account to its "Digital Assets Research Team" on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

What followed encapsulates the culture shift sweeping traditional finance funds.

What Happened: It started with a seemingly innocuous tweet: "Hi everyone, for the next hour+ our account is being taken over by some members of our Digital Assets Research Team!," announced Franklin Templeton to its 126,000+ X followers on Jan. 17. 

It proceeded to add "laser eyes," a favorite meme of Bitcoin supporters, to its Benjamin Franklin avatar and asked:

You are unsure how to feel about Laser Eye Ben? Just think instead of Ben wif hat

— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) January 17, 2024

Avid cryptocurrency followers will understand the reference to dogwifhat, a dog-themed memecoin that has run up to over $400 million in market capitalization within months.

Nic Carter, advisor to the Bitcoin Clean Energy Initiative, wondered "what is happening," but the account went on a proverbial tear, posting several memes, such as this one gathering 1.4 million impressions:

pic.twitter.com/mswW8ILrc3

— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) January 17, 2024

It also shared a bullish take on the recent activity in the Solana SOL/USD ecosystem, prompting several media outlets to speculate about the possibility of a Solana exchange-traded fund later down the road.

The spectacle ended after two hours, with the account reporting the original owner "got the reins back." 

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Why It Matters: Reactions to this stunt ranged from surprise over amazement to approval. 

James Seyffart of Bloomberg, one of the main reporters on the Spot Bitcoin ETF developments, said "Talk about a pivot."

Lyn Alden, macro investment analyst and author of "Broken Money," summed up the culture shift in one sentence: "$1.5 trillion AUM institution out here memeing today."

Indeed, this brief intermezzo shows a development that has been ongoing for a while: traditional finance institutions accommodating to the culture and lore of the cryptocurrency space.

VanEck, another fund that is home to a Spot Bitcoin ETF, has gathered somewhat of a cult following among cryptocurrency observers for its crypto-native communication style. "We’re not Bitcoin tourists at VanEck," a tweet from Jan. 5 reads, evidence of how serious the company takes the merger of Bitcoin with traditional financial institutions.

The attempt of Franklin Templeton to emulate this popularity could be seen as another step in bringing the two worlds closer together. For proof of that, look no further than Emin Gün Sirer, co-founder of the Avalanche AVAX/USD blockchain reacting with a "one of us" meme to one of the memes by the investment fund.

What's Next: Will Clemente, co-founder of Reflexivity Research, predicts that people "drastically underestimate the mid-long term BTC ETF flows."

While memes on social media may not drive significant amounts of inflows, their use by traditional finance companies signals how accommodative the industry has become of cryptocurrency. 

Tokenization, the representation of assets by tokens on the blockchain, is supported by BlackRock Inc BLK CEO Larry Fink, calling himself a "big believer" in the technology. Even Bitcoin-skeptic JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM CEO Jamie Dimon backs tokenization.

The shift in tone on social media is another interesting development on cryptocurrency's path to mainstream adoption.

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