Franklin Templeton Joins Growing Pile of Solana ETF Applicants

Add Franklin Templeton to the list of asset managers seeking approval for exchange-traded funds tracking the ongoing price of Solana. 

The issuer on Friday afternoon filed an S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a Franklin Solana ETF. 

“The Fund seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of Solana,” the firm said in its filing. 

San Mateo, California-based Franklin follows multiple other issuing giants seeking an SEC nod for Solana-based funds. Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, and VanEck have all submitted filings for ETFs based on the performance of the sixth-largest crypto by market capitalization.

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas has penciled in a 70% chance that Solana ETFs receive a green light this year, although he would not predict the timing. Issuers must still contend with regulatory review, ongoing enforcement actions, and public comment on the filings. 

Solana’s price dip

Solana was recently trading at about $168, down slightly over the past 24 hours, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko. The token of the smart contracts blockchain has dropped more than 16% over the past week following its association with a scandal involving the Libra token, and wider slowing of meme coin projects that have favored the network. 

Still, investor demand for crypto-focused assets remains strong, the continuing after-effects of spot Bitcoin funds’ dramatic success. The 11 Bitcoin funds have accumulated more than $40 billion in net inflows over the past year, ushering in the subsequent approval of ETFs tracking the price of Ethereum last July.

On Thursday, the issuer debuted the Templeton Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ) to track price movements for the two top cryptocurrencies by market value based on CF Benchmark’s Institutional Digital Asset Index.

The Franklin Bitcoin ETF’s (EZBC) $442 million in net inflows ranks just eighth among the Bitcoin funds, according to UK-based asset manager Farside Investors. The Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET)  has $34 million in AUM to rank sixth among eight funds in that group.

“This move reflects a growing interest among asset managers to offer investment products beyond Bitcoin, especially as regulatory conditions become more favorable,” Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, told Decrypt. “I am optimistic about the approval prospects for these ETFs, both because of the crypto-friendly regulatory environment and the recent success of Bitcoin ETFs.”

Franklin Templeton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Edited by Andrew Hayward