Franklin Templeton expects its spot bitcoin ETF to gain traction as financial advisors become more familiar with product

While much has been made of spot bitcoin ETF trading volumes and the net inflow of fresh capital after they were approved and began trading earlier this month, the lion’s share of buying and selling has been spread over a select few of those instruments.

Franklin Templeton's spot bitcoin ETF has, so far, not been part of that elite group of products offered by BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale, the three of which have accounted for about 90% of total trading volume. But the Wall Street firm, which was founded in 1947, remains confident that its spot bitcoin ETF product will become popular among financial advisors and investors.

"It’s just a matter of time … as education moves forward about how these assets complement and help deliver potentially better long-term solutions alongside of other assets in their portfolio," Franklin Templeton Head of Digital Assets Roger Bayston told The Block. "That’s something that takes time."

Franklin Templeton's core business is partnering with financial advisors and wealth platforms to provide solutions, products and services they can deliver to their clients, said Bayston, who believes his firm will emerge as a "digital asset provider of choice" as the investment community becomes more familiar with spot bitcoin ETFs.

"You have a brand new product that has never existed before. These platforms are doing their fiduciary responsibilities to filter through those providers and find differentiations that end up making sure that their clients have the best long-term results … that’s the process that is occurring right now," Bayston said.

As of Monday, total trading volume for spot bitcoin ETFs registered above $14 billion, according to data posted to X by Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Franklin Templeton had accounted for $101 million in trading volume, his data also showed. Spot bitcoin ETFs began trading less than two weeks ago.

Franklin Templeton's confident of standing out

Despite the slow start, Bayston believes Franklin Templeton will eventually stand out among rival providers of the new product, in part, because of its proven commitment to digital assets, which he said has included "building inside of the public blockchain community."

"That’s a real differentiator, building inside a blockchain community. That helps us understand this infrastructure in places other providers might not," he said. "The idea that we offer deep investment services and research across the entire digital asset space is another differentiator."