Franklin Templeton Files For Crypto Index ETF to Hold BTC, ETH

Franklin Templeton has proposed an ETF that would hold both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, the asset management giant introduced the Franklin Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ) which would hold an unspecified amount of Bitcoin and Ether, weighted by the assets' market capitalizations.

Coinbase will be used as the custodian and additional digital assets could potentially be added to the ETF, which would trade on CBOE BZX, in the future.

Hashdex filed a similar Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF in July but the SEC said earlier this month that it is pushing back its approval decision until September.

Last week, the NYSE pulled its application that would see a rule change to allow it to list and trade options on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

One day later, NASDAQ made a similar move, filing with the regulator to withdraw requests to list Bitcoin and Ethereum options. The exchange originally filed in May to show “that the shares of each of the specified Bitcoin ETPs on which an exchange proposes to list options are ‘widely held and actively traded,’ as required by the exchanges’ rules.”

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wisconsin's Investment Board recently revealed their Bitcoin ETF holdings including BlackRock (IBIT), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin (FBTC), Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETFs (BTCO), and GBTC.