Franklin Templeton launches metaverse ETFs

Asset management giant Franklin Templeton is launching a metaverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) for investors in the UK, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
The company has partnered with German-based index provider Solactive AG to develop the Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF, which will track companies with exposure to the metaverse and blockchain technologies under the Solactive Global Metaverse Innovation Net Total Return Index.
According to Franklin Templeton, crypto payment firm Block and crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital are under its supervision. As of August 2022, the company has over $1.4 trillion in assets currently under management, with its ETF platform alone holding more than $12 billion in assets.
“Society has already experienced three foundational changes in the way that technology operates and how it’s been delivered since the early 1970s. This exciting fourth wave is now emerging, enabled by blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology development is propelling metaverse expansion possibilities in compelling and far-reaching ways. We believe that investment in the metaverse and its rising sophistication bode well for the next iteration of the internet, which could profoundly impact societies and global economic growth,” states Dina Ting, the Head of Global Index Portfolio Management at Franklin Templeton.
Franklin Templeton expects the industry to be valued at $5 trillion by 2030. The metaverse ETF will be listed on the Deutsche Borse Xetra (XETRA) on September 7, followed by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Borsa Italiano on September 9.
“We are delighted to be an early mover in this space and thus provide European investors with access to a diversified pool of cutting-edge companies across the key metaverse segments at a low cost.
The new ETF allows investors to diversify their core holdings and satellite thematic sleeves in their existing portfolios with a unique exposure and participate in the expected secular growth of the underlying megatrend that is digitization,” said Caroline Baron, the Head of ETF Business Development at Franklin Templeton

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