Proactive Investors - Franklin Templeton, the long-running US investment firm with over a trillion dollars under management, has joined the race to become the first traditional finance institution with a spot-bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on offer.
The firm filed its intentions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), naming Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) as crypto custodian and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) as cash custodian.
Franklin Templeton thus joins GrayScale, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Fidelity, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, WisdomTree and numerous other major financial institutions in pressuring the US securities regulator into approving spot-bitcoin ETFs.
An investment vehicle of this kind would give retail and institutional investors access to bitcoin on the traditional stock exchange, potentially opening the world’s largest cryptocurrency up to trillions of dollars of untapped wealth.
However, the SEC has snubbed any and all applications since 201, when the Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini crypto exchange became the first to apply for a spot-bitcoin ETF.
A maiden approval has become a holy grail of sorts for the cryptocurrency sector, and though the SEC has shown animosity to the idea on the ground that the bitcoin markets are prone to fraud and manipulation, a recent court win for Grayscale has pushed the dial closer to victory.
Bitcoin sent higher
Bitcoin bounced higher on news of Franklin Templeton’s application, hitting highs of $28,570 on Tuesday. BTC/USDT saw a bit of a correction after this peak, though still managed to close the session 2.7% higher at $25,840.
The pair added another 0.5% in this morning’s Asia trades, bringing bitcoin up to $25,979 at the time of writing.
BTC/USDT is 3.7% higher over six months – Source: tradingview.com
The short but unexpected rally caught the puts off guard, causing nearly $38 million in short liquidations on the futures market against $15 million in long liquidations.
Ethereum (ETH) enjoyed a boost on Tuesday, closing 2.65% higher at $1,592, though the ETH/USDT pair has failed to sustain momentum, having dipped 0.3% in this morning’s trades.
Week on week, bitcoin is 0.8% higher while ether is 2.5% lower.
In the altcoin space, Tron (TRX) and Toncoin (TON) are back in the green, adding 3.7% and 9.7% respectively over the past seven days.
On the downside, Binance’s BNB token, Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have all lost around 5%, while Solana (SOL) has significantly underperformed the market with 9.6% of losses in the past week.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation is currently $1.03 after bumping 0.54% higher overnight.