$1,5 Trillion-Dollar Giant Franklin Templeton Seeks Ethereum ETF

• Franklin Templeton has joined other giant fund managers like Ark Investment and BlackRock in the race to offer spot Ethereum ETF in the United States.
• The heightened demand for Ethereum from institutional investors has helped the instrument maintain a bullish narrative in the recent past.

The mass adoption of web3 products and digital assets has been a trending topic in the past few years despite the devastating impacts of the 2022/2023 crypto bear market. The Ethereum (ETH) network has remained at the forefront of mainstream adoption of decentralized smart contracts, despite the notable competition from other layer-one blockchains like Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). During the past few weeks, Ethereum-based investment products have recorded a positive cash inflow, whereby they registered $16 million in inflows during the last week according to CoinShares.

Institutional Appetite for Ethereum Spikes

In a surprising move, Franklin Templeton Investments, a top-tier investment management firm founded 77 years ago and has over $1.5 trillion in Assets Under Management (AUM), has filed for spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the SEC filing, the Franklin Ethereum Trust will be traded on the Cboe BZX Exchange and custodied on the Coinbase Custody Trust. However, more changes are expected along the way before the US SEC issues the final judgment on the Franklin Ethereum Trust, as observed by the spot Bitcoin ETF application process earlier this year.

Breaking: $1,500,000,000,000 asset manager Franklin Templeton enters the #Ethereum ETF race, alongside #Ark & #BlackRock, embracing staking and broadening digital asset investment. 🚀

SEC’s evolving stance post-#Bitcoin #ETF hints at a brighter future for Ether ETFs! 🌟… pic.twitter.com/qJ9CRYjomN

— Marcel Knobloch aka Collin Brown (@CollinBrownXRP) February 13, 2024

The Franklin Ethereum Trust now joins a growing number of institutional investors seeking to tap into Ethereum as a new asset class to hedge against fiat inflation and diversify their crypto portfolios for enhanced gains. Already, leading fund managers BlackRock, Ark Investments, VanECK, Hashdex, Grayscale, and Fidelity are all in the race to offer spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States. The approval of spot Ethereum ETFs is expected to follow the same principle as Bitcoins as the US political class pushed to lure more crypto voters.

Closer Look at ETH Price Action and Short-Term Expectations

Ethereum price closely followed Bitcoin price action in a bullish breakout in the past 24 hours leading to Tuesday. The large-cap altcoin with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of about $320 billion has enjoyed enormous support from both retail and institutional investors seeking to tap into the altcoin market. Furthermore, Ethereum provides the majority of the altcoin’s liquidity through most of the web3 protocols. 

Ethereum price is looking at a possible outburst in the near term if the weekly candles consistently close above $2,500. The weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) is attempting to rally above the 70 level, which is considered a bullish signal, especially after a long period of bear market. 

The ETH price bullish outlook is bolstered by the weekly golden cross between the 50 and 200 Moving Averages (MAs). As a result, it is safe to assume Ethereum’s price is prime to revisit its all-time high (ATH), especially after Bitcoin crossed $50k for the first time in 24 months. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has gained 6.9 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at .