Franklin Templeton CEO Optimistic About Bitcoin ETFs

Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson expressed optimism about U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in a recent interview, stating she feels positive about their future. Her company aims to capture more market share as demand for these products is expected to surge.

“You haven’t even gotten that second wave,” Johnson remarked in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. “This is really the first wave of the early adopters, and I think the next wave is the bigger institutions who get more comfortable with how it settled out.”

Since their launch on January 11, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen over $13 billion in net inflows within less than three months, totaling $14.8 billion to date. This influx has contributed to a more than 60% rise in Bitcoin’s price year-to-date, reaching a new peak of $73,700 in March, with BlackRock’s fund setting records for a newly launched ETF.

Despite stagnation in ETF inflows and price action through April and May, leading to speculation that demand had peaked, April’s SEC disclosures revealed that large investors and firms comprised only about 20% of the new Bitcoin ETFs’ assets under management. This indicates that initial demand primarily came from retail investors, while major institutions were cautiously entering the market.

Johnson noted that many professional money managers are still figuring out how to integrate Bitcoin into their portfolio strategies. “Right now, Bitcoin’s a bit of a risk-on, risk-off,” she said. “It’s a little bit like gold; some of them think about it that way, and some consider it from a tech standpoint.”

Franklin Templeton currently manages one of the smallest Bitcoin spot ETFs in the country by assets under management, holding 6,148 BTC—worth about $440 million. The firm offers the lowest sponsor fee among funds at just 0.19%, with its upcoming Ethereum ETF expected to match this rate.

“We’re hoping that people will be fee-sensitive and that we’ll capture more market share,” Johnson said regarding the firm’s Bitcoin offering.

Executives at Bitwise, an asset manager behind a larger U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF, anticipate a significant increase in demand from institutions as current investors expand their positions and prospective investors complete their due diligence.

Political developments in Washington, D.C., could also act as a catalyst for wider adoption. “If people understood the ramifications of the shift in D.C., the crypto market would be at new all-time highs,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

Bitcoin ETFs saw a resurgence on Tuesday, with over $886 million in inflows, marking their second-best day yet.

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