21Shares, the Swiss crypto ETP issuer accredited with listing the first crypto basket HODL, has now achieved USD150 million in assets under management (AUM), outperforming the vast majority of managed crypto funds.With the iconic listing of the world’s first crypto HODL basket ETP in November 2018 on the SIX Swiss stock exchange, 21Shares AG opened a new world of digital assets to conventional investors, while utilising a conventional product wrapper already well-accepted by institutional investors. Over the last 15 months, the Swiss issuer has added a total of eleven crypto ETPs on seven new stock exchanges in Switzerland and the EU, key highlights in 2020 including listing Bitcoin (21XB) and Ethereum (AETH) on the regulated segment of Deutsche Boerse XETRA and the Vienna Stock Exchange.
In 2020, growing institutions’ interest came primarily from the United States. Tudor Investment Corporation, Square and MicroStrategy are amongst the first large US institutions to publicly allocate capital to Bitcoin followed by the announcement from PayPal in Q3 2020, the largest bank in terms of accounts (not assets) in the world, to offer Bitcoin to their client base. These investments have already delivered noteworthy returns (even if not yet realised).
“We have seen a growing appetite amongst Swiss and European based asset managers, Family Offices, hedge funds and private banks for an institutional-grade ETP providing access to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies this year,” says Hany Rashwan CEO of 21Shares. “Our fully collateralised, regulated crypto ETPs have been well received and the inflows to date show the trust placed in us by these institutions. We reached USD 100 million in AuM in mid-August growing from quality institutional demand that has pushed us past the USD 150 million mark. It’s worth noting that we are still at the beginning with institutional investors across Europe accessing cryptocurrencies via ETPs and we expect this shift to continue growing and speeding up in 2021 and beyond. We are well placed to provide institutional-grade products for this institutional demand.”
The pioneering Swiss issuer has been at the forefront of innovation in the digital asset space, narrowing the gap between the traditional and new financial world by providing institutional investors globally with a secure, transparent, and regulated way to gain exposure to the otherwise unregulated crypto market. In addition to the overwhelming popularity amongst institutional investors, demand for the eleven 21Shares crypto ETPs amongst retail clients is also rising fast especially as they can now purchase these products from their preferred and well-known European and Swiss online brokers including Swissquote, Saxobank, Scalable, Comdirect and many others.
