Franklin Templeton joins the Ethereum ETF race | CoinDesk JAPAN

Franklin Templeton has filed for an Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Outside of the company, in recent months BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco and Galaxy Digital) and Hashdex have submitted applications.

Franklin Templeton's Bitcoin ETF is underperforming

The filing comes about four weeks after Franklin Templeton, along with nine other issuers, launched a Bitcoin spot ETF. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) were the most in demand. On the other hand, Franklin Templeton's initial launch was not so successful, with inflows since its launch amounting to only about $70 million (10.5 billion yen, at an exchange rate of 150 yen to the dollar).

Last month, BlackRock's IBIT attracted $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and Fidelity's FBTC attracted about $3 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Will Ethereum ETF be approved after May?

The SEC has so far delayed all decisions to approve Ethereum ETFs, as expected by experts. JPMorgan currently sees a less than 50% chance that such a fund will be approved by May. Traders at decentralized prediction platform Polymarket appear to be betting that the ETF has a 50% chance of being approved by May 31st.

Franklin Templeton, often thought of as “old-fashioned,” has made several moves into crypto in the years since CEO Jenny Johnson took over the company in 2020. Recently, on X (formerly Twitter), the company released an image of a logo in the shape of Ben Franklin, the origin of the company's name, with lasers in the eyes. This is said to show support for crypto asset (virtual currency) culture.

Ethereum (ETH) price has increased by 5.5% in the past 24 hours and is trading around $2,647. On the 12th, Bitcoin (BTC) reached $50,000 (approximately 7.5 million yen) for the first time since late 2021.

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Franklin Templeton via X
｜Original text: Franklin Templeton Joins Ethereum ETF Race