Franklin Templeton has named The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC as the exchange for two proposed Bitcoin (BTC) dividend ETFs, giving the funds a venue as they seek to pair U.S. equities with crypto exposure.
The Form 8-A filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 22 identifies the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF. Franklin Templeton ETF Trust filed a separate post-effective amendment that day, scheduled to take effect Oct. 27.
Each fund seeks to track a VettaFi index that starts with 95% in equity securities and 5% in Bitcoin exposure. Regular and special dividends from component stocks are directed to Bitcoin-related investments at the market open on the day after each stock’s ex-dividend date. The prospectus permits derivatives and depositary receipts to provide that exposure. It describes reinvestment through the index strategy, rather than a direct Bitcoin payment to shareholders.
The equity index covers large U.S. companies. The innovation index includes large U.S. issuers listed on Nasdaq and excludes finance companies. Both indexes are rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted twice a year. At a quarterly review, an allocation above 5% is reduced to 4.5%. If it exceeds 20% at a daily close between reviews, the index resets the allocation to 4.5% at the close of the second business day after the breach.
The equity ETF’s annual management fee is 0.09%, compared with 0.19% for the innovation ETF. Franklin Templeton put preliminary assets under management at $1,790.5 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026, in a separate monthly release. That figure is for the company, not the proposed ETFs.
Shareholders pay the management fees and bear the funds’ risks. The prospectus warns that investors can lose money and lists Bitcoin price declines, theft, fraud, manipulation and security failures at trading venues among those risks. The registration statement is scheduled to take effect Oct. 27.
