Franklin Templeton recently filed for a spot ether ETF, joining a growing field of companies seeking to bridge traditional finance and digital assets.
According to the filing, the proposed ETF aims to provide investors with a convenient alternative to directly acquire, hold and trade Ethereum.
The move comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the issuer of a Bitcoin ETF in early January. Franklin is one of nearly a dozen companies that have launched such a product.
The company has expressed interest in staking the fund’s holdings of Ethereum, a strategy also considered by Ark 21Shares, which updated its prospectus to include staking language, a feature not found in BlackRock’s filings.
According to Franklin’s filing, the fund can participate in staking through trusted providers to earn staking rewards in Ether tokens (ETH), which can potentially be treated as income.
Currently, approximately 25% of the total ETH supply is staked. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart estimates the odds of SEC approval at 60%, with a decision on a spot ETH ETF expected in May.