SEC Comment Letter 0000000000-23-010833 to Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust (EZBC) (CIK 0001992870) (EZBC)
Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust (EZBC) (CIK 0001992870)
Date: Sept. 29, 2023 · CIK: 0001992870 · Accession: 0000000000-23-010833
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File numbers found in text: 333-274474
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United States securities and exchange commission logo
September 29, 2023
David Mann
Chief Executive Officer
Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
One Franklin Parkway
San Mateo, CA 94403
Re:Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
Registration Statement on Form S-1
Filed September 12, 2023
File No. 333-274474
Dear David Mann:
We have reviewed your registration statement and have the following comments. In
some of our comments, we may ask you to provide us with information so we may better
understand your disclosure.
Please respond to this letter by amending your registration statement and providing the
requested information. If you do not believe our comments apply to your facts and
circumstances or do not believe an amendment is appropriate, please tell us why in your
response.
After reviewing any amendment to your registration statement and the information you
provide in response to these comments, we may have additional comments.
Registration Statement on Form S-1
General
1.Based on our preliminary review of your registration statement, we have the following
initial set of comments. Once you have amended your registration statement and
responded to each of these comments, we will provide you with more detailed comments
relating to your registration statement, as appropriate.
2.We note that your registration statement includes a number of blanks or omitted
information, including, for example, the Initial AP, Authorized Participants and disclosure
regarding the material terms of the material agreements, as well as inclusion of the
material agreements as exhibits to the registration statement. Please revise to include this
information in your next amendment, or tell us when you intend to do so. Please also
confirm your understanding that the staff will need sufficient time to review this
FirstName LastNameDavid Mann
Comapany NameFranklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023 Page 2
FirstName LastNameDavid Mann
Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023
Page 2
information, and we may have additional comments at that time.
3.We refer you to our December 2022 Sample Letter to Companies Regarding Recent
Developments in Crypto Asset Markets, located on our website at the following
address: https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/sample-letter-companies-regarding-crypto-asset-
markets. Please consider the issues identified in the sample letter as applicable to your
facts and circumstances, and revise your disclosure accordingly.
Risk Factors, page 16
4.Provide a materially complete description of the risks related to bitcoin and the bitcoin
network, including, for example, the risks presented by the use of bitcoin in illicit
transactions and rewards for mining bitcoin that are designed to decline over time, which
may lessen the incentive for miners to process and confirm transactions on the bitcoin
network.
5.Please revise your disclosure to address the competition you will face in launching and
sustaining your product. Please also revise your risk factors to address the risks associated
with this competition, including the risk that your timing in reaching the market and your
fee structure relative to other bitcoin ETPs could have a detrimental effect on the scale and
sustainability of your product.
6.Please discuss in your risk factors the extent to which material aspects of the business and
operations of bitcoin trading platforms are not regulated. Also discuss the
risk of manipulation, front-running, security failures or operational problems at bitcoin
trading platforms.
Business of the Fund
Net Asset Value, page 66
7.Please include a materially complete description of the methodology to be used to
calculate NAV and disclose how you will value your bitcoin holdings for GAAP
purposes. Please also tell us how you intend to develop accounting and valuation policies
to address significant events related to crypto assets. For example, explain to us how your
valuation policies will address the potential for a blockchain for a crypto asset to diverge
into different paths (i.e., a “fork”) and airdrops.
Business of the Fund
Valuation of Bitcoin; The CF Benchmark Index, page 66
8.Please revise your disclosure to provide a materially complete description of the
index methodology. Please also address the following in your disclosure regarding the
index:
•Include a table with market share and volume information for each constituent
trading platform comprising the index used to calculate the CME CF Bitcoin
Reference Rate;
FirstName LastNameDavid Mann
Comapany NameFranklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023 Page 3
FirstName LastName
David Mann
Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023
Page 3
•Explain how the trading platforms are selected and describe how the CME CF
Bitcoin Reference Rate is calculated by providing an example of the calculation;
•Disclose here the extent to which the Sponsor has discretion to select a different
index; and
•Disclose whether the Sponsor will notify investors of changes to the constituent
trading platforms used to calculate the index, and, if so, how the Sponsor will notify
the investor of such changes.
Description of the Shares and the Declaration of Trust
Deposit of Bitcoin; Issuance of Creation Unit, page 70
9.Please include a materially complete discussion of the creation and redemption process.
As appropriate, please also address the following:
•Discuss the potential impact on the arbitrage mechanism of the price volatility,
trading volume, price differentials across bitcoin trading platforms, and the closing of
bitcoin trading platforms due to fraud, failures, security breaches or otherwise;
•Clarify here whether the Sponsor may generally suspend creations, and, if so, the
circumstances under which it may do so; and
•Describe the mechanics of how the creation and redemption process will work
between the Trust, the Authorized Participants and the Custodians, including a
discussion of whether and to what extent creation and redemption transactions will be
settled on-chain or off-chain, and any risks associated with the settlement process.
The Custodians
Bitcoin Custodian, page 80
10.Please revise to provide a materially complete discussion of your bitcoin custody
arrangements. For example, please consider addressing the following:
•Describe the material terms of your agreement with the Bitcoin Custodian;
•Describe how the Bitcoin Custodian will store the private keys, including whether
they will be commingled with assets of other customers and the geographic location
where they will be stored;
•Identify who will have access to the private key information and disclose whether any
entity will be responsible for verifying the existence of the bitcoins; and
•Disclose whether and to what extent the Bitcoin Custodian carries insurance for any
losses of the bitcoin that it custodies for you.
Plan of Distribution, page 89
11.Please discuss whether and to what extent the size of your creation and redemption
baskets could have an impact on the arbitrage mechanism in light of the market for
bitcoin.
FirstName LastNameDavid Mann
Comapany NameFranklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023 Page 4
FirstName LastName
David Mann
Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust
September 29, 2023
Page 4
Conflicts of Interest, page 90
12.Please revise to disclose all existing and potential conflicts of interest between your
Sponsor and its affiliates and the Trust. Please also clarify whether the Sponsor or any
insiders have bitcoin or bitcoin-related exposure that could create conflicts of interest and
disclose whether you have a code of conduct or other requirements for pre-clearance of
bitcoin-related transactions that apply to your employees, the Sponsor, or any of its
affiliates.
Experts, page 91
13.Please revise to include this information in your next amendment, or tell us when you
intend to do so.
Financial Statements, page 96
14.We note your disclosure that your audited financial statements will be provided by
amendment. Please confirm you will file these audited financial statements in a pre-
effective amendment as soon as they are available in order to allow the staff sufficient
time to complete its review. Please also confirm your understanding that the staff will
need sufficient time to review the audited financial statements and related information,
and we may have additional comments at that time.
We remind you that the company and its management are responsible for the accuracy
and adequacy of their disclosures, notwithstanding any review, comments, action or absence of
action by the staff.
Refer to Rules 460 and 461 regarding requests for acceleration. Please allow adequate
time for us to review any amendment prior to the requested effective date of the registration
statement.
You may contact Kate Tillan at 202-551-3604 or Michelle Miller at 202-551-3368 if you
have questions regarding comments on the financial statements and related matters. Please
contact Sonia Bednarowski at 202-551-3666 or Sandra Hunter Berkheimer at 202-551-3758 with
any other questions.
Sincerely,
Division of Corporation Finance
Office of Crypto Assets