Franklin Templeton, the $1.8 trillion asset manager, filed to register two Bitcoin-related ETFs for trading on Nasdaq: the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF. The funds combine U.S. stocks with Bitcoin exposure, starting with 95% in stocks and 5% in Bitcoin, with stock dividends funding the cryptocurrency allocation. At quarterly rebalances, exposure above 5% would be reset to 4.5%, while a separate 20% threshold would also trigger a reduction to 4.5%. The filing came as U.S. equities outperformed Bitcoin: over the past year, Bitcoin fell 23%, compared with gains of 18% for the S&P 500 and 19% for the Nasdaq 100, while Bitcoin was down 2.88% year to date. Franklin Templeton already offers direct Bitcoin exposure through the Franklin Bitcoin ETF, which had a market capitalization of $466.78 million, but the new funds favor limited Bitcoin exposure within predominantly equity-based portfolios.
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