The $1.5 trillion asset manager submitted its own filing to secure regulatory approval for America’s first spot Bitcoin ETF.
Franklin Templeton became the latest fund manager to declare interest in listing a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) following a Sep. 12 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The financial giant with over $1.5 trillion in assets under management (AUM) asked the SEC for permission to list shares of its Franklin Bitcoin ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange.
In the Form S-1 filing, the company named the publicly-traded company Coinbase as its brokerage partner and custodian for its Bitcoin (BTC). The firm proposed the Bank of New York Mellon to hold the fund’s cash capital.
Franklin Templeton has now joined a list of Wall Street stalwarts like BlackRock and Fidelity in filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF, a product that would allow US residents to invest directly in BTC without actually holding crypto’s leading token by market cap.
The SEC has historically rejected spot Bitcoin ETF applications citing market manipulation concerns while conversely approving Bitcoin future ETFs, a move that has puzzled crypto proponents and courts alike.
In a lawsuit against the SEC, a trio of judges ruled that the commission had been “arbitrary and capricious” in denying Grayscale’s application to convert the GBTC fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Judge Neomi Rao, in particular, ruled that the SEC failed to “explain its different treatment of similar products,” pointing to approval of future ETFs.
Notably, the ruling does not automatically approve Grayscale’s bid to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF.
The SEC must now re-review Grayscale’s bid and either approve the filing
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Author: Naga Avan-Nomayo