Franklin Templeton filed two exchange-traded funds with the SEC on June 19, 2026, structured to redirect U.S. equity dividends into Bitcoin exposure rather than reinvest them in stocks. The funds are the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF, both filed via Form 485APOS. The structure has no direct precedent among registered U.S. funds.
How the funds work
Each fund holds 95% in U.S. large-cap equities and 5% in Bitcoin. Cash dividends from the equity sleeve are not paid out or reinvested in stocks; they flow instead into Bitcoin-linked instruments, including spot exchange-traded products, futures, and options. Quarterly rebalancing trims Bitcoin back to 4.5% if it drifts above 5%, with a hard cap keeping BTC exposure below 20% between rebalancing periods.
The funds track separate VettaFi indices. The broad-market fund follows the VettaFi US Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index, a basket of 498 companies with market capitalizations between $7.5 billion and $4.9 trillion. The innovation fund follows the VettaFi US Innovation 100 Bitcoin DRIP Index, built from the 100 largest Nasdaq-listed U.S. companies excluding financial firms. Tickers, exchange listing, and management fees are not disclosed in the preliminary prospectus.
Context and timeline
Franklin Templeton already operates spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. The DRIP filings extend that franchise into a hybrid structure that builds BTC exposure passively from equity income. If the SEC follows a standard review timeline, both funds could take effect as early as September 1, 2026.
