After a TradFi giant joins the XRP ETF fray, who’s next?
This $1.5 trillion fund manager’s altcoin ETF proposal is one of several the SEC is weighing
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Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF proposal yesterday is just one of several the SEC is weighing. Still, it marks the first filing from a traditional finance giant.
Crypto and ETF investors alike wait to see what type of spot crypto product the new-look securities regulator could choose to allow through next.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts last month put the highest odds (90%) on litecoin ETFs seeing the light of day by the end of the year.
That was ahead of dogecoin (75%), solana (70%) and XRP products (65%). The lower odds for XRP was due to the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple (one that, unlike others, hasn’t yet been dropped).
Franklin Templeton’s Tuesday XRP ETF filing joins those of Grayscale, Bitwise, WisdomTree and others. The SEC is reviewing them, delaying its decision on Grayscale’s proposal yesterday.
Franklin manages roughly $1.5 trillion in assets. Yes, “illion” with a “tr.” When a fund group of that size seeks a product, people take notice.
Remember when BlackRock jumped into the bitcoin ETF race in June 2023? It turned heads, spurred optimism and left some wondering if the firm’s clout was enough to get US BTC funds past the SEC.
What played the larger role was Grayscale’s court victory against the regulator. And Franklin Templeton isn’t exactly BlackRock. But you get the point.
Franklin Templeton’s Roger Bayston correctly predicted in December that ETF legal staffs would be busy in the first part of 2025. Franklin Templeton last month launched a crypto index fund (so far limited to holding BTC and ETH) and filed for a solana ETF.
BlackRock has not yet entered the altcoin ETF proposal fray. Comments from execs signal the firm is focused on BTC and ETH for now (Rachel Aguirre didn’t exactly give a direct answer to Bloomberg on possibly proposing a SOL ETF).
The SEC has another seven or so months before it would have to issue a decision on any of the crypto ETFs it’s so far acknowledged. It’ll be interesting to see who could be the next big firm to add to that proposal pile in the meantime.
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