Franklin
Templeton
has
applied
for
a
spot
Ethereum
exchange-traded
fund
(ETF),
a
filing
with
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC)
shows.
The
asset
manager
joins
BlackRock,
Fidelity,
Ark
and
21Shares,
Grayscale,
VanEck,
Invesco
and
Galaxy,
and
Hashdex,
who
have
all
submitted
applications
in
recent
months.
The
filing
comes
roughly
four
weeks
after
Franklin,
among
nine
other
issuers,
launched
a
spot
bitcoin
ETF.
Asset
management
giant
BlackRock’s
iShares
Bitcoin
Trust
(IBIT)
and
Fidelity’s
Wise
Origin
Bitcoin
Fund
(FBTC)
have
seen
the
most
demand
for
their
funds.
Meanwhile,
Franklin
has
had
a
less
successful
start,
with
only
roughly
$70
million
in
inflows
since
launching.
IBIT
has
attracted
over
$3.5
billion
worth
of
bitcoin
in
the
past
month,
while
Fidelity
has
seen
roughly
$3
billion.
The
SEC
has
so
far
delayed
all
decisions
to
approve
an
Ethereum
ETF,
as
expected
by
experts.
JP
Morgan
currently
sees
a
less
than
50%
chance
that
such
a
fund
would
be
approved
before
May.
Although
traders
from
Polymarket,
a
decentralized
prediction
platform,
seem
to
be
betting,
there
is
a
50%
chance
that
the
ETFs
will
be
approved
by
May
31.
Franklin
Templeton,
often
deemed
“old-fashioned,”
has
made
several
pushes
into
crypto
in
recent
years
since
CEO
Jenny
Johnson
took
over
the
company
in
2020.
Most
recently,
on
social
media
platform
X
(formerly
Twitter),
the
asset
manager
put
laser
eyes
on
its
logo
that
features
Ben
Franklin
as
a
nod
to
the
crypto
culture.
The
price
of
ether
(ETH)
climbed
5.5%
in
the
last
24
hours,
trading
near
$2,647,
while
bitcoin
(BTC)
hit
$50,000
on
Monday
for
the
first
time
since
late
2021.