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

article-image

CryptoFX/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


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). 

Loading Tweet..

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.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

morpho 2 graphic.png

Research

Utilizing a ‘DeFi Mullet’ approach, Coinbase’s Bitcoin-backed loans integration with Morpho demonstrates a powerful blueprint for CEXs to monetize dormant assets by expanding adoption of wrapped products (cbBTC, USDC) while also supporting native and/or preferred DeFi ecosystems (Base) which can further lead to downstream growth in onchain liquidity and increased utilization of the related assets.

article-image

SKALE’s Jack O’Holleran said that certain metrics are becoming more important to gauging the success of a project

article-image

Mary Gooneratne, co-founder of Solana DeFi startup Loopscale, wants to give blockchain borrow-lend a facelift

article-image

BlackRock, Fidelity and others had their spot ETH EFTs approved, and we may see more crypto products come to market

article-image

Inflation reached a five-month low in March, but 10% blanket levy may impact prices

article-image

The administration announced a pause on reciprocal tariffs, but the bond market shows signs of trouble

article-image

While it’s not technically a crypto game and won’t require NFTs, it won’t be free-to-play, either