Franklin Templeton Proposes ETFs to Reinvest Stock Dividends into Bitcoin
Franklin Templeton has filed with Nasdaq for two proposed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) designed to invest in U.S. equities and direct dividend income into Bitcoin. This innovative strategy could offer traditional stock investors a novel avenue to gain Bitcoin exposure, bypassing the need to sell shares or make direct cryptocurrency purchases.
Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Management, highlighted the filings on X (formerly Twitter) on October 26, characterizing the products as ETFs that would hold U.S. stocks and reinvest their dividends into Bitcoin.
“Basically like investing in S&P 500 & Nasdaq 100 w/ dividends going to BTC,” Geraci stated, adding that the funds are “targeting 5% BTC allocation.” He lauded the design as a “smart product” that could provide everyday investors with a more accessible route to Bitcoin exposure.
The proposed funds are named the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF. Both are slated for registration on Nasdaq under the Franklin Templeton ETF Trust.
The registration documents reference a description of the funds’ shares from a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 22. However, the Form 8-A filing itself does not confirm the commencement of trading or provide a specific launch date.
This proposed structure aims to bridge conventional equity investing with Bitcoin accumulation. Instead of relying on investors to allocate personal funds to cryptocurrency, the strategy would automatically channel dividends from the underlying stock holdings into the digital asset. While Geraci’s mention of a “5% BTC allocation” provides an indication of the intended exposure, the filing does not detail how this target would be maintained or how the funds would manage fluctuations in Bitcoin’s price.
As of this report, Bitcoin was trading just below $80,000, experiencing a slight decline of over 1% in the past 24 hours and nearly 4% over the last seven days. Its 30-day performance shows a drop of more than 5%, and the asset remains approximately 29% below its value a year ago and 37% shy of its all-time high above $126,000.
Data from Coinglass indicates pressure on leveraged traders, with roughly $33 million in Bitcoin positions liquidated in the preceding 24 hours. Long positions, representing bets on price increases, accounted for approximately $27 million of this total, suggesting that traders anticipating higher prices bore the brunt of these losses.
In related news, existing spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced significant outflows last Friday, shedding over $635 million. This led to weekly total inflows of approximately $442 million, marking the first “green” week since early October. This weekly figure was largely driven by Monday and Wednesday, each seeing inflows exceeding half a billion dollars.
