Franklin Templeton Reportedly Mulls New Altcoin Crypto Fund

Asset management behemoth Franklin Templeton is reportedly considering the possibility of launching a new digital asset fund, and this time, the fund will invest beyond the largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether.

The trillion-dollar asset manager is exploring the possible creation of a digital assets fund that could offer institutional investors with exposure to altcoins, The Information reported Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. Altcoins are alternative tokens to Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized crypto and also the largest digital asset by market value.

The report further noted that the altcoin-focused fund will offer staking rewards, but it is unclear which specific altcoins the asset manager is considering for the fund. On the other hand, it has made several moves around the Solana network and the U.S. Dollar Coin (USDC).

It praised the Solana blockchain for its impressive activity during the fourth quarter of 2023, saying it sees in the network "Anataloy's vision of a single atomic state machine as a powerful use case of decentralized blockchains."

Just on Thursday, the financial titan unveiled a new feature for investors on its Benji Investments platform that will allow them to use the USDC stablecoin for funding investments on Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), which is the first registered mutual fund in the United States to record and process transactions through a public blockchain.

Franklin Templeton has around $1.6 trillion assets under management (AUM), and has been dabbling in the crypto space for several years. It was among the issuers that launched a spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January and also applied for a spot Ether (ETH) ETF.

The asset management giant has been in the financial industry for around 77 years and recently recognized Bitcoin Ordinals for their role in driving engagement around the Bitcoin community.

News of Franklin Templeton's supposed plans for an altcoin fund comes at a critical time in the cryptocurrency industry following the 19b-4 approvals of spot Ether ETFs late last month. Many in the crypto sector believe the approvals are a catalyst for bigger things in the burgeoning industry.

The San Mateo-based multinational company was among at least five Ethereum ETF applicants that submitted amended filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the Wall Street regulator issued comments on proposals for the funds.