Franklin Templeton files for Solana spot ETF, joining 5 other hopefuls

Franklin Templeton has joined the asset managers waiting in line for approval of a Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). It filed an S-1 form with the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Feb. 21.

The asset manager registered a Solana trust in the state of Delaware on Feb. 11. That trust will form the basis for the ETF. The S-1 indicated that the Cboe BZX Exchange would list the ETF. The S-1 states that Franklin Templeton may stake some of the SOL in the fund. The staking reward would be treated as fund income.

Many firms are sharing waiting for a decision on a SOL ETF

After the filing of a 19b-4 for the proposed ETF, the SEC will acknowledge the application and open up a comments period.

Franklin Templeton follows Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary Capital. Those firms have filed 19b-4 forms filed on their behalf by the prospective exchanges that would list them. Grayscale’s 19b-4 was filed by NYSE ARCA. The remainder, like Franklin Templeton, are angling for Cboe BZX Exchange listings.

The SEC must approve both forms 19b-4 and S-1 before an ETF can launch. Franklin Templeton’s S-1 for the Solana came one day after it launched its EZPZ Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange. That ETF consists of 82% BTC and 18% ETH and tracks the assets on the CF Benchmarks’ Institutional Digital Asset Index.

ETF applications are flooding the SEC

In addition to the EZPZ, Franklin Templeton offers Franklin Bitcoin ETF and Franklin Ethereum ETF, both of which were launched last year. Franklin Templeton has $1.46 trillion in assets under management. 

The SEC has been hit with a wave of cryptocurrency ETF applications in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas compiled a list of altcoins that are candidates for ETFs. 

Seyffart and Balchunas found S-1 filings from asset managers that want to issue ETFs based on Litecoin, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, HBAR and Polkadot. With the Franklin Templeton filing, SOL moves into first place with six filings, with XRP following with five. There were 16 potential altcoin ETFs in all. 

The analysts gave the SOL ETFs a 70% chance of approval. New leadership at the SEC makes the agency’s actions somewhat less predictable, but possibly more friendly to cryptocurrency.

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