Franklin Templeton Seeks SEC Exemptions for Tokenized ETF Trading in Bitcoin (BTC) Market Rules
Key Takeaways
- •Franklin Templeton is seeking SEC exemptive relief that would allow ETF trading in tokenized form under the market rules that apply to Bitcoin products.
- •The move extends the firm's BENJI blockchain platform beyond fund recordkeeping toward institutional trading and payment infrastructure, following an Oct. 9 discussion cited in an Oct. 10, 2026 COINOTAG report.
- •In 2021, Franklin Templeton launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund on the Stellar blockchain, presenting it as the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to process transactions and record share ownership on a public blockchain.
- •Exemptive relief is significant because U.S. securities rules have traditionally required ETF ownership records to be maintained through established intermediaries, a model that tokenized structures would alter.
- •The request is still subject to SEC review, and the agency's decision will determine whether tokenized ETF trading under these market rules can move forward and how far BENJI can expand.
Franklin Templeton is seeking exemptions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would allow tokenized trading of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the market rules governing Bitcoin (BTC) products, according to a COINOTAG report published on Oct. 10, 2026.
An update issued at 06:25 UTC noted that the underlying Korean-language report frames the Oct. 9 discussion as an extension of Franklin Templeton's push to widen the role of BENJI, the firm's blockchain-based platform, beyond fund recordkeeping and into institutional trading and payment infrastructure.
Background: BENJI and Tokenized Funds
BENJI is the tokenization platform developed by Franklin Templeton, a global asset manager and sponsor of U.S. spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether ETFs. In 2021, the firm launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Stellar blockchain, which it introduced as the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain to process transactions and record share ownership. The BENJI platform has since been extended to additional blockchain networks. That trajectory — from recording a money fund's shares on a public blockchain in 2021 to a push that now reaches toward trading and payments — illustrates what tokenization, the representation of ownership rights as transferable digital tokens on a blockchain, is intended to make possible.
Exemptive relief — the mechanism through which the SEC can permit a firm to operate outside specific provisions of its rules — is a key step for tokenized ETF structures because U.S. securities rules have traditionally required ETF share ownership to be recorded through established intermediaries. That intermediary-based recordkeeping model is what a tokenized structure would change: an exemption could allow ETF interests to be represented and transferred as tokens on blockchain networks while remaining within the existing regulatory framework.
The request remains subject to SEC review. The agency's response is the immediate step to watch, since it will determine whether tokenized ETF trading under the Bitcoin (BTC) market rules can proceed — and how far Franklin Templeton can extend BENJI beyond fund recordkeeping and into institutional trading and payment infrastructure.
This content was first published on COINOTAG: https://en.coinotag.com/franklin-templeton-sec-tokenized-etf-exemptions
