Franklin Templeton explores altcoin-based private fund with staking rewards

Asset manager Franklin Templeton is considering launching a new private fund that would expose institutional investors to altcoins and offer staking rewards, according to a report from The Information.

The move would expand the company’s offerings beyond its current Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) funds. With approximately $1.64 trillion in assets under management as of March 2024, Franklin Templeton ranks among the largest investment management firms globally.

The company has been actively involved in the crypto space, offering several funds, including a popular spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched in January.

While the report does not specify which altcoins would be included in the fund’s basket, Franklin Templeton has praised the growth of the Solana network, citing Anatoly Yakovenko’s vision of “a single atomic state machine as a powerful use case of decentralized blockchains.”

Franklin Templeton is also one of the proponents of a spot Ether ETF, which has recently been approved by the United States Securities its nd Exchange Commission (SEC) and is currently awaiting clearance for launch. The asset manager recently updated its S-1 filing for its Ethereum ETF, with a disclosure on the fund’s 0.19% fee.

In a separate development, Franklin Templeton announced on June 6 that investors on its Benji Investments platform can now use USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin to fund investments in its money market fund, the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX).

The fund, which manages $357 million in assets, is the first US-registered mutual fund to process transactions and record ownership using a public blockchain. Each share is represented by the BENJI token. The conversion will be facilitated by the crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform Zero Hash.