Asset manager Franklin Templeton applied with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 12 to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). 

The S-1 registration statement comes after the SEC delayed decisions on spot ETF applications from WisdomTree, Valkyrie, Fidelity, VanEck, Bitwise and Invesco on Aug. 31 and a court ruling on Aug. 29 that the SEC must consider Grayscale’s application to covert its Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETF into a spot ETF.

According to the application, the fund would be structured as a trust. Coinbase would custody the BTC, and Bank of New York Mellon would be the cash custodian and administrator. Fund shares would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The SEC’s next deadline for deciding on the application is Oct. 16.

Franklin Templeton noted the risk from regulatory uncertainty in its application:

“Digital asset markets in the U.S. exist in a state of regulatory uncertainty, and adverse legislative or regulatory developments could significantly harm the value of bitcoin or the Shares, such as by banning, restricting or imposing onerous conditions or prohibitions on the use of bitcoins, mining activity, digital wallets, the provision of services related to trading and custodying bitcoin, the operation of the Bitcoin network, or the digital asset markets generally."

Digital asset index provider CF Benchmarks, which is regulated in the United Kingdom, would provide daily valuations based on the Coinbase, Bitstamp, iBit, Kraken, Gemini, and LMAX Digital exchanges. Trades would be indexed at five-minute intervals.  

Franklin Templeton has $1.5 trillion in assets under management. At the time of writing, the price of BTC was up over 4%. 

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