Could digital assets be like the tech stock of the ‘90s?
User Growth of the internet parallels growth within Crypto
1995-2002 vs 2017-2024
![Graph](https://franklintempletonprod.widen.net/content/qq4k3i7cyd/svg/US-ALTS-7099908-6999908-SVG-IMAGES-1025-Users.svg?u=lspbqq")
Sources: Statista, World Bank. Crypto Users as of November 2024.
Crypto still represents a small value share of the stock market
January 1995-June 2025
Source: MSCI. As of June 30, 2025.
Why invest in digital assets : potential benefits
Digital asset investing is attractive to those risk tolerant investors seeking to generate higher returns than traditional asset classes.
10-Year Risk and Return (%)
Sources: Franklin Templeton, Bloomberg, MSCI, Cryptocurrency Prices, s&p. 10-year historical observations are as of 2Q 2025.
* Data for All Crypto Market Cap is from July 2017 – June 2024. The indices used are MSCI World Index for Global Stocks, Bloomberg Global-Aggregate Total Return Index Value Unhedged USD Index for Global Bonds and Total of All Cryptocurrencies Sector for s&p cryptocurrency largecap pr usd. Standard deviation is a statistic used as a measure of the dispersion or variation in a distribution, or data set, from its mean, or average; it measures the volatility of an investment’s return over a particular time period; the greater the number, the greater the volatility.
Explore how digital assets can impact a portfolio
Inclusion of digital assets in a traditional 60/40 stock and bond portfolio has the potential to enhance the portfolio return frontier.
STEP 1
Choose an allocation to digital assets below and compare the results of the hypothetical portfolio.
The modern 60/40 portfolio theory combines the traditional 60% stock and 40% bond portfolio allocation with a basket of digital assets ranging from 1%, 3% and 5% of the portfolio allocation to determine overall returns generated from the modern asset allocation over the last 5 years. For hypothetical performance, gross of fee returns do not include trading expenses and net of fee returns are reduced with a model fee of 3%. Gross and net performance do not reflect any fees, expenses or sales charges. These hypothetical results have not accounted for any liquidity factors which could have an impact on overall portfolio performance. Hypothetical portfolios are rebalanced quarterly. The results do not represent actual results and actual results may significantly differ from the hypothetical returns being presented. Indexes are unmanaged, and one cannot invest directly in an index. Based on market indices for the past three years, an allocation to digital assets have the potential to show higher returns and Sharpe ratio, or risk-adjusted return, in comparison to a traditional 60/40 portfolio based on the hypothetical scenarios.
Data Source for the Hypothetical Portfolios: Yahoo Finance & FTDA Resources, September 30, 2025. The hypothetical portfolios shown are comprised of the following asset class representative benchmarks: Stocks as represented by the S&P 500 Index, Bonds as represented by the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index and Digital Assets as represented by the CMC Crypto 200 Index. Since inception date is January 1, 2019 for all hypothetical portfolios.
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What are the risks?
There are risks associated with the issuance, redemption, transfer, custody, and record keeping of shares maintained and recorded primarily on a blockchain.
For example, shares that are issued using blockchain technology would be subject to risks (including the following: blockchain is a rapidly-evolving regulatory landscape in the United States and in other countries, which might result in security, privacy or other regulatory concerns that could require changes to the way transactions in the shares are recorded.
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