Franklin Templeton Floats Metaverse ETF for EU Investors

American multinational holding company and global investment firm Franklin Templeton has launched a metaverse-focused Exchange-Traded Product (ETP).

The ETP dubbed the Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF will track the Solactive Global Metaverse Innovation Index GTR as it will seek to offer investors exposure to the burgeoning metaverse world.

Through the UCITS ETF, European investors will be able to gain exposure to companies with a vested interest in the metaverse world, or those planning to be involved. The new investment product is on track to be listed on the Deutsche Börse Xetra (XETRA) on September 7, and the Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange (LSE) on September 9, respectively.

The new fund will be headed and managed by the duo of Dina Ting, Head of Global Index Portfolio Management, and Lorenzo Crosato, ETF Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton.

“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,” Dina Ting said in a statement.

“Many big tech companies have already pivoted towards the metaverse for their next major area of development in the same way that many did at the inception of the internet. There appear to be tremendous real-world business opportunities for investment in this space considering that by 2030, the e-commerce market could grow between USD2.0–USD2.6 trillion.”

The Franklin Templeton metaverse ETP did not draft in companies that do not align themselves with the UN Global Compact Principles.

The company comes off as one of the major investment powerhouses that have offered investors an avenue to gain exposure to the metaverse world. Besides Franklin Templeton, ProShares, Fidelity Investments, Global X, ETC Europe, and Invesco are amongst the firms that have floated their own metaverse-linked ETPs in the past year.