Trillion-Dollar TradFi Heavyweight Files for Solana Trust in Delaware

Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s biggest asset managers, appears to be laying the necessary groundwork for its eagerly anticipated Solana ETF filing. 

Worth over $1.2T in AUM (Assets Under Management), the TradFi heavyweight could be feeling a touch of FOMO. Franklin Templeton’s filing comes mere days after the SEC broke new ground, acknowledging Grayscale’s $SOL ETF filing on February 6.

The SEC has since acknowledged 19b-4 filings from four additional institutions, stoking further excitement toward Solana ETF approvals in 2025.

Franklin Templeton Follows Bitwise With Delaware Trust

On February 10, the ‘Franklin Solana Trust’, a Statutory Trust, was incorporated in the state of Delaware, based on Delaware’s Division of Corporations official site. Delaware is a common state in which financial institutions incorporate Statutory Trusts, owing to the State’s flexible and advantageous trust laws.

While the Franklin Solana Trust is far from a spot ETF filing in itself, rival asset managers like Bitwise have previously established statutory trusts in Delaware ahead of making their own 19b-4 filings.

Optimism toward Solana ETF approvals is reaching a fever pitch. Recent analysis from Bloomberg suggests that $SOL ETFs stand a 70% chance of being approved by October 2025. 

This is a significant improvement from approval odds under the Biden Administration, which Bloomberg Analyst Eric Balchunas estimated sat at below 5% during Gary Gensler’s regime.

SEC Acknowledges Four SOL ETF Filings

Less than a week after the SEC reviewed Grayscale’s spot Solana ETF application, the federal agency has formally acknowledged 19b-4 filings from four additional institutions.

Filings from 21Shares, Bitwise, VanEck, and Canary Funds have now joined Grayscale in taking this critical step toward seeing spot $SOL ETFs hit traditional markets.

While the number of remaining obstacles that might block Solana ETFs from coming to fruition is reducing, the SEC’s classification of $SOL as a security remains a key concern. The regulator has previously classified Bitcoin and Ethereum, the underlying assets behind existing cryptocurrency ETFs, as commodities.

Franklin Templeton No Stranger to Solana

The formation of the Franklin Solana Trust is far from the institution's first brush with crypto’s most performant Layer-1 blockchain. As early as January 2024, the TradFi giant remarked that they were “impressed by all the activities we have seen in Solana”.

Franklin Templeton has also been a keen observer of Solana’s prolific AI Agent economy. A recent research report published by the firm highlighting several projects within the ecosystem’s booming sector.

With the Franklin Solana Trust incorporated in Delaware, the Solana community now eagerly awaits a 19b-4 filing from the trillion-dollar asset manager.

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