Franklin Templeton filed an amended S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday for its spot Ethereum ETH -0.91% ETF application.
The financial institution is one of several that, after successfully launching a spot Bitcoin BTC -2.89% ETF, is now trying to complete the necessary regulatory steps to launch a similar product that will allow investors to bet on the price of Ethereum without having to buy the cryptocurrency directly.
Franklin Templeton plans to charge a 0.19% sponsor fee, according to its filing. This is the same percentage it will charge for its spot Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) — the cheapest among its peers — come August. Initially the firm is not charging a fee to invest in its spot bitcoin ETF.
Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas quickly commented on the proposed fee. "The opening shot in the Eth ETF fee war has been fired from Franklin, 19bps," he said in a post to X.
The SEC told prospective spot Ethereum ETF issuers to file their amended S-1 forms by Friday, The Block previously reported. However, it could take a few weeks for the S-1 forms become effective and the new financial products to begin trading.
When spot Ethereum ETF applications received their initial approval last week, VanEck quickly filed an amended version of its S-1 form. On Thursday, BlackRock filed its updated form, disclosing that its ETF would be seeded with $10 million.
Franklin Templeton's spot Bitcoin ETF has about $350 million in assets under management, according to The Block Data Dashboard.