Bitcoin Magazine

Franklin Templeton Officially Launches 2 Bitcoin DRIP ETFs That Turn Dividends Into Bitcoin

Two Nasdaq-listed funds route dividends from large U.S. companies into a bitcoin sleeve that grows with every payment.

Franklin Templeton has officially launched two exchange-traded funds that convert stock dividends into bitcoin. The Franklin U.S. Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF (FBEQ) and the Franklin U.S. Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF (FIBT) will trade on Nasdaq. 

The launch completes the last regulatory step after Franklin filed registration papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 22. The filings for both funds arrived in June without tickers or fees. Four months after that filing, the details are in. 

How the funds work

FBEQ tracks the VettaFi U.S. Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index. The index holds the 500 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization, weighted by float-adjusted market cap. As of September 30, it held 499 stocks ranging from $10.2 billion to $5.5 trillion in size, with the heaviest concentration in information technology.

At inception, the index allocates 95% to those stocks and 5% to BTC. Each dividend the companies pay, whether regular or special, is reinvested into BTC at the market open on the day after the ex-date. The BTC share of the portfolio grows with each payment.

A traditional dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP, uses cash dividends to buy more shares of the company that paid them. Franklin’s version routes that cash into BTC. For a holder, the dividend stream from the largest companies in America becomes a recurring BTC purchase, with no exchange account, no wallet and no custody decisions.

The bitcoin position has limits. At each quarterly rebalance, any allocation above 5% gets trimmed to 4.5%. If BTC exceeds 20% of the index between rebalances, the index cuts it to 4.5% within two business days, and the proceeds return to stocks. 

The result is a stock fund with a bitcoin sleeve, a different product from a BTC fund.

The fund holds no BTC on-chain. It gains exposure through BTC exchange-traded products, including Franklin’s own spot fund, through bitcoin futures and options, or through depositary receipts, in some cases via a Cayman Islands subsidiary.

FBEQ carries a 0.09% expense ratio and charges no 12b-1 fee. Franklin Advisory Services manages the fund, with Franklin Templeton Institutional as sub-advisor.

Bitcoin as a mature, investable asset

“Bitcoin has matured as an investable asset, supported by deeper market infrastructure, broader adoption and a growing understanding of the role it can play in portfolios,” said Dina Ting, SVP and Head of Index Investments at Franklin Templeton. “A systematic approach to building exposure is one way to address this next stage of adoption.”

Jeff Masom, Head of U.S. Distribution and Global Wealth Management Private Markets, framed the funds as a new way to combine U.S. equities and bitcoin through a differentiated index methodology.

This post Franklin Templeton Officially Launches 2 Bitcoin DRIP ETFs That Turn Dividends Into Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

VanEck Launches All-in-One Wealth Builder ETF With Bitcoin Exposure

VanEck launched the Wealth Builder ETF today, trading on the NYSE under the ticker WBMO. The actively managed fund packages the firm’s Wealth Builder model portfolios, which advisers have used through third-party platforms, into one product anyone with a brokerage account can buy. 

VanEck, which oversees about $244 billion in assets, selects the holdings, sets the weights and rebalances the portfolio.

VanEck describes the product as a way to “gain exposure to a broad mix of investments across stocks, bonds, gold, and bitcoin with a single ETF purchase.” The fund holds global stocks, bonds, gold and other real assets. 

Its bitcoin exposure is indirect. WBMO owns no bitcoin. A wholly owned Cayman Islands subsidiary holds certain investments and gains digital asset exposure through exchange-traded products, which are funds that hold bitcoin or track it. 

The subsidiary is generally capped at 25% of total assets at each quarter-end, but that limit covers several asset categories. The prospectus sets no specific bitcoin target. Investors do not need a wallet, seed phrase or exchange account to hold the bitcoin slice. They also cannot control the bitcoin position directly.

JUST IN: $200 billion VanEck includes Bitcoin exposure in their new Wealth Builder ETF

"This fund brings Bitcoin to investors who want one simple diversified holding" pic.twitter.com/dLhGu8VrWy

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 27, 2026

Details of VanEck’s fund

The fund’s gross expense ratio is 0.33%. A 0.07% fee waiver brings the net ratio to 0.26%. The underlying bitcoin products charge their own fees.

The allocation also limits the swings. If bitcoin rises sharply, WBMO captures only part of the gain. If it falls, bonds and gold should cushion some of the loss, though not prevent it.

VanEck warned in its announcement that digital asset ETPs can be extremely volatile and that some are not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which means they lack certain investor protections.

The firm’s other crypto-linked fund, NODE, raised its bitcoin ETP exposure from about 7% at the end of June to 16.8% at the end of September. NODE holds blockchain companies rather than WBMO’s mix, but it shows how VanEck is using crypto in its portfolios.

Earlier this fall, VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research, Matthew Sigel, said the Bitcoin community recognized the risks quantum computing posed to Bitcoin’s cryptography. 

“It’s a risk,” Sigel said at the time. “But the community has recognized the scope of the issue. There’s a lot of talent that’s now come together with a framework of how to upgrade the system…The upgrades don’t happen as fast because there’s no CEO who can tell the devs, ‘hey, do it now.’ There’s a governance process — it takes more time, it’s a little bit messier, but there are technological paths for quantum resistance, and I think you’ll see more of that over the next couple of years.”

Major companies, including Coinbase and Blockstream, had begun developing quantum-resistant security measures to prepare for future threats. 

A Bitcoin Security Consortium, including BlackRock, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Block, had also been formed to fund open-source security initiatives, including proposals such as BIP-360.

This post VanEck Launches All-in-One Wealth Builder ETF With Bitcoin Exposure first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Franklin Templeton Clears Final Hurdle For ETFs That Turn Stock Dividends Into Bitcoin

Franklin Templeton has taken the last regulatory step before launching two exchange-traded funds that convert stock dividends into bitcoin. 

On October 22, Franklin Templeton filed a Form 8-A with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register shares of the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF for trading on the Nasdaq. A prospectus filed the same day lists an effective date of October 27.

The filings for both funds arrived in June without tickers or fees. Four months later, the details are in.

How the funds work

The Equity fund, ticker FBEQ, tracks the VettaFi US Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index. The index holds the 500 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization, weighted by float-adjusted market cap. 

As of September 30, it held 499 stocks ranging from $10.2 billion to $5.5 trillion in size, with a concentration in information technology.

At inception, the index allocates 95% to those stocks and 5% to bitcoin. Each dividend the companies pay, regular or special, is reinvested into bitcoin at the market open on the day after the ex-date. The bitcoin share of the portfolio grows with each payment.

A traditional dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP, buys more shares of the company that paid the dividend. Franklin’s version routes that cash into bitcoin. 

For a holder, the dividend stream from the largest companies in America becomes a recurring bitcoin purchase, with no exchange account, no wallet and no custody decisions.

The bitcoin position has limits. At each quarterly rebalance, an allocation above 5% is trimmed to 4.5%. If bitcoin exceeds 20% of the index between rebalances, it is cut back to 4.5% within two business days, and the proceeds return to stocks. The result is a stock fund with a bitcoin sleeve, not a bitcoin fund.

The ETF does not hold bitcoin on-chain. It gains exposure through bitcoin exchange-traded products, including Franklin’s own spot fund, through bitcoin futures and options, or through depositary receipts, in some cases via a Cayman Islands subsidiary.

FBEQ carries a 0.09% expense ratio with no 12b-1 fee. Franklin Advisory Services manages the fund, with Franklin Templeton Institutional as sub-advisor. Dina Ting, Hailey Harris, Joe Diederich and Basit Amin serve as portfolio managers.

The Innovation fund follows the same mechanic on the VettaFi US Innovation 100 Bitcoin DRIP Index, which draws from the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq.

A deeper bet on bitcoin

Franklin Templeton filed for a spot bitcoin ETF in September 2023 and launched it as EZBC in January 2024. In April, the firm acquired 250 Digital and formed Franklin Crypto, an institutional digital asset division. Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has argued that blockchains threaten Wall Street’s fee structure more than its technology.

The DRIP funds extend that strategy to investors who may never buy bitcoin on their own. A retiree holding an S&P 500-style fund in a brokerage account can, through FBEQ, let dividends from the companies she already owns build a bitcoin position over years.

The prospectus warns that investors can lose money, and that bitcoin’s price swings may affect the fund’s net asset value. Whether that trade-off appeals to the audience Franklin Templeton is targeting will become clear after October 27.

This post Franklin Templeton Clears Final Hurdle For ETFs That Turn Stock Dividends Into Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

BlackRock Files for Bitcoin ETF With Downside Buffer and Capped Upside

BlackRock has filed for a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund which, if approved, would cap investors’ upside while limiting their losses. 

The iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, or PBIT, would aim “to create and manage bitcoin exposure,” according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

It would work buying options and fixed-income strategies to give investors regulated bitcoin exposure with capped upside and some downside protection — but not direct bitcoin ownership. 

The fund would suit investors who want to invest in bitcoin but not experience all the volatility that comes with the top cryptocurrency. 

Bitcoin has attracted attention for its wild price swings over the years but its volatility has dampened as more investors have bought into the space. 

But 2025 was the least volatile year for the asset and the bear market of 2026 has been its most shallow on record: in past cycles, bitcoin’s price has dropped as low as 80% from its all-time high; this year it shed just 50% of its value. 

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust — IBIT — started trading in 2024 after the SEC gave the green light to 11 spot bitcoin ETFs. 

The most successful of the ETFs in terms of flows, the investment vehicle has helped bring bitcoin to Wall Street. Now traders, institutions and retail investors can quickly buy shares that track the price of the leading cryptocurrency. 

They don’t need to worry about exchanges or storage of the digital coin, rather, BlackRock buys and holds the bitcoin while investors simply hit the buy or sell button via their brokerage account. 

IBIT has the most assets under management out of the bitcoin ETFs, currently handling $65.7 billion. 

On Monday, the fund received $665.2 million in fresh investment as bitcoin buyers flooded back into the market. 

That’s the biggest number of shares bought in the product since October 2025, when bitcoin notched a new all-time high, according to Farside Investors data. 

This post BlackRock Files for Bitcoin ETF With Downside Buffer and Capped Upside first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

HANetf Debuts Euro-Hedged Bitcoin Fund in World First

A new bitcoin exchange-traded fund has hit Europe — with a twist. 

Debuted by $9.2 billion ETF provider HANetf, the Arrow Bitcoin EUR Hedged ETF gives European investors exposure to bitcoin while reducing the impact of movements between the euro and the US dollar.

Because bitcoin is priced in dollars, European investors who buy an unhedged product are exposed to two things at once: the bitcoin price and the dollar’s moves against the euro. 

JUST IN: $9.2 billion ETF provider HANetf launches the first ever euro-hedged Bitcoin exchange traded commodity pic.twitter.com/Bg5tFJ2yAj

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 29, 2026

The new exchange-traded commodity — a fund that gives investors exposure to a commodity — aims to remove the second of these in a product described by HANetf as the world’s first. 

“With this launch, we are bringing the established logic of euro-hedged ETFs to the crypto market,” Hector McNeil, co-founder and co-CEO of HANetf, said in a statement. “Investors have long understood that currency movements can have a meaningful impact on returns on different asset classes, for example gold.”

“Similar to gold, bitcoin is priced in US dollars, meaning European investors can end up taking two views at once: a view on bitcoin itself and a view on the dollar. 

HSBC will provide the currency hedging for the product. Typically, euro-hedged funds work by a bank entering forward contracts to sell the equivalent dollar amount for euros at a fixed rate on a future date. 

If the dollar then weakens against the euro, the loss on the bitcoin’s euro value is offset by a gain on the forward, and vice versa. These contracts are usually rolled monthly, and the hedge is resized when they roll.

Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. have been a huge success since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved them in 2024. 

Managed by the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley and others, the products allow investors to buy shares that track the price of bitcoin, without having to worry about storing the cryptocurrency themselves. 

The funds now manage a combined total of $111.1 billion in assets, according to Coinglass, following the most successful launch in the history of ETFs. 

This post HANetf Debuts Euro-Hedged Bitcoin Fund in World First first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.