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Franklin Templeton Launches Bitcoin, Ether ETF

Coin WorldThursday, Feb 20, 2025 10:30 pm ET

1min read

Franklin Templeton, a prominent global investment management firm, has launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks both spot Bitcoin and Ether. The new ETF, Franklin Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ), is the second cryptocurrency index ETF to hit the market, following the launch of Hashdex's Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF (NCIQ) earlier this month.

The EZPZ fund holds a basket of assets referenced in the US CF Institutional Digital Asset Index, which currently tracks only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). As of February 20, the market capitalization-weighted index comprises roughly 87% BTC and 13% ETH, according to CF Benchmarks. Franklin Templeton plans to add more cryptocurrencies to the fund as they become eligible for inclusion in the underlying index, pending necessary regulatory approvals.

The fund aims to provide exposure to Bitcoin and Ether without the hassle of buying them directly. Franklin Templeton stated in a post on the X platform that the innovative offering plans to add new digital assets as they become eligible for inclusion in the underlying index. Similarly, Hashdex's NCIQ also plans to expand its offerings in the future.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Hashdex's NCIQ and Franklin Templeton's EZPZ on the same day, December 19, 2022. The approvals indicate a softening stance by US regulators on crypto oversight, following the election of Donald Trump as US President in January 2021. Trump has expressed a desire to turn the US into the "world's crypto capital."

In 2024, asset managers submitted a flurry of regulatory filings to list ETFs holding altcoins such as Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC). In October 2022, NYSE Arca, a securities exchange, requested permission from US regulators to list a Grayscale ETF holding a diverse basket of spot cryptocurrencies. The Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, created in 2018, holds a crypto index portfolio comprising BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and others.

Bloomberg Intelligence anticipates relatively high odds of approval across the board for new crypto ETF filings. As the crypto market

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