The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed deciding on whether to greenlight an exchange-traded fund (ETF) application tracking Ripple’s XRP token that investment titan Franklin Templeton submitted.
Notably, Franklin Templeton is the biggest player to join the XRP ETF race so far.
SEC Punts On Franklin Templeton’s XRP ETF Approval
The SEC said it will need additional time to evaluate the proposed rule change filed by Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade shares of Franklin Templeton’s proposed ETF, also known as the Franklin XRP Fund.
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein,” Wall Street’s biggest regulator wrote in the notice on Tuesday.
A new decision date has now been set for June 17, 2025.
Franklin Templeton, which currently manages approximately $1.5 trillion in customers’ assets, filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC in mid-March. The firm joins other investment managers like Grayscale, Bitwise, 21Shares, and WisdomTree in seeking the SEC’s regulatory blessing for XRP-based investment vehicles.
Flurry Of Filings
Asset managers are now pushing their luck to get altcoin ETFs listed following the blockbuster success of the Bitcoin ETFs approved in January 2024. And President Trump’s new crypto-friendly regime has asset managers more hopeful than before.
Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, 21Shares, CoinShares, and Canary Capital are among the firms that have submitted paperwork to get new crypto ETFs, based on assets such as Solana, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Cardano, approved.
The agency also has a new chair, Paul Atkins, who is considered friendly toward crypto. During his first public comments following his swearing in, Atkins said he expects “huge benefits” from digital assets and plans to work with lawmakers to formulate a clear regulatory framework for crypto.
More Delays
On Tuesday, the SEC also postponed its decision on whether to greenlight the listing and trading of the Grayscale Hedera Trust and whether to approve staking for the Franklin Crypto Index ETF. Moreover, the agency said it would wait until June 15 to decide next steps for the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF.
There are currently over 70 crypto ETFs that are awaiting the SEC’s review. Bloomberg’s ETF analyst James Seyffart said in an X post on Tuesday that he expects more delays this week.
“This is expected IMO. Final deadlines for most of this stuff is in October 2025 or later.”