Franklin Templeton and SBI team up to bring bitcoin ETFs to Japan

TOKYO -- Japanese financial services group SBI Holdings will partner with U.S. investment firm Franklin Templeton to establish a digital asset management company as early as this year to prepare for Japan's approval of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, Nikkei has learned.

SBI will hold a 51% stake in the new company, with Franklin Templeton owning the rest. With around $1.6 trillion in assets under management, Franklin Templeton is the seventh-largest asset manager in the world, according to the U.S.-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.