The asset manager, despite being an issuer of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, has not achieved the same level of success as BlackRock and Fidelity. Franklin Templeton has now applied for a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This move aligns them with other major players like BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark, 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, and Hashdex, all of whom have recently submitted similar applications.
Franklin Templeton's filing for an Ethereum ETF comes about a month after the launch of their spot bitcoin ETF, which, unlike BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), has seen limited success with only around $70 million in inflows since its launch. In contrast, IBIT and FBTC have attracted over $3.5 billion and roughly $3 billion worth of bitcoin, respectively, in the past month.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has consistently delayed decisions on approving an Ethereum ETF, a trend anticipated by industry experts. JP Morgan currently estimates a less than 50% likelihood of approval before May, while traders on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket are evenly split, giving a 50% chance of ETF approval by May 31.
Despite being considered "old-fashioned," Franklin Templeton, under CEO Jenny Johnson since 2020, has been actively venturing into the crypto space in recent years. This includes incorporating crypto culture symbols, such as laser eyes on its logo featuring Ben Franklin, as demonstrated on the X social media platform (formerly Twitter).