Franklin Templeton expands presence in crypto with ETF Ethereum Spot filing
Renowned asset manager Franklin Templeton, with over $1.5 trillion in assets under management, has officially filed to launch an ETF Ethereum Spot, joining the growing list of applicants including giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, and Hashdex. This filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission comes a month after Franklin and nine other issuers launched a Bitcoin cash-settled ETF.
Comparison with Bitcoin ETFs
Although Franklin Templeton has already invested in a Bitcoin Spot ETF, it has not seen the same level of success as market leaders BlackRock with their iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which attracted over $3.5 billion and $3 billion in Bitcoin respectively last month. In comparison, Franklin has only generated around $70 million in fund inflows since its launch.
Anticipation and crypto adoption by Franklin Templeton
Despite the SEC’s delay in approving Ethereum Spot ETFs, there is moderate anticipation among experts and traders, with JP Morgan estimating a less than 50% chance of approval before May. Parallel to this, market prediction players like Polymarket put the chances of approval before 31 May at 50%.
Under the leadership of Jenny Johnson since 2020, Franklin Templeton, often seen as traditional, has been making various moves in the crypto space. Recently, the company adopted the “laser eyes” on its logo on the X social platform (formerly Twitter), paying homage to the crypto culture and embodying its iconic character, Ben Franklin.
