Franklin Templeton has filed to launch two exchange-traded funds that would automatically channel dividend income into bitcoin exposure.
summary
- Franklin Templeton has filed for two ETFs that would reinvest dividends into Bitcoin exposure through a rules-based allocation strategy.
- The proposed funds will start with a 95% allocation to US large-cap stocks and a 5% allocation to Bitcoin-related investments.
- This filing extends Franklin Templeton’s digital asset expansion following recent tokenization partnerships with Kraken, MoonPay, and Ondo Finance.
registration Deposit A presentation filed on Thursday shows that the asset manager has proposed the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF, with an expected effective date of September 1, 2026.
The products will track the VettaFi US Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index and a related innovation-focused edition. Under the index methodology, profits generated by the underlying stock portfolios will be reinvested in Bitcoin-related investments rather than remaining in cash or distributed to investors.
The filing states that exposure to bitcoin can come through exchange-traded products, futures, options, or other bitcoin investment vehicles. The strategy is set to begin with a portfolio allocation of 95% US large-cap stocks and 5% exposure to Bitcoin.
Quarterly rebalancing rules would reduce BTC allocations in excess of 5% to 4.5%, while a separate cap would limit BTC exposure to 20% between rebalancing periods, the filing states.
As of April 30, the stock index included about 498 securities. The filing states that the founding companies’ market capitalization ranged from about $7.5 billion to $4.9 trillion.
Franklin is expanding its cryptocurrency-related investment offerings
The proposed ETFs add another product category to Franklin Templeton’s digital assets business, which already includes spot cryptocurrency ETFs, token funds and blockchain-based investment products.
Franklin Templeton’s spot Bitcoin ETF, EZBC, had $358.9 million in net assets and had attracted $329.6 million in cumulative net inflows as of Thursday, data from SoSoValue showed.
source: SoSoValue.
The introduction follows several digital asset initiatives announced by the company in recent months. On June 15, Franklin Templeton said he would do so Work with Ondo Finance To offer tokenized versions of its ETFs that can trade directly from cryptocurrency wallets 24/7. The products are aimed at investors outside the US and include exposure to US equities, fixed income assets and gold.
Earlier in June, Franklin Templeton Built-in BENJI Money Market Fund converted it to MoonPay Trade. The partnership allows institutional clients to exchange stablecoins such as USDC and USDT for BENJI through MoonPay’s cross-chain trading infrastructure.
In May, Franklin Templeton announced a separate partnership with Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. BENJI will be available on the Kraken platform as an add-on cash management product for institutional users, the companies said. They also revealed plans to Develop Additional tokenized investment products through Payward’s xStocks infrastructure.
