Digital asset ETP issuer 21Shares has announced that Copper will provide digital asset custody and staking services to secure the underlying assets of its cryptocurrency ETPs amidst increasing interest from institutional investors.
Hany Rashwan, Co-Founder and CEO of 21Shares, says: “Safeguarding our digital assets in Copper’s award-winning custody architecture provides us with the best security available on the market. With this foundation in place, we can build more secure ETPs for our clients.”
Copper’s custody, which uses Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology, creates three separate key shards rather than one private key to largely eliminate the risk of exposure when signing transactions. 21Shares will also use Copper’s staking capabilities to manage its digital asset holdings.
The firm writes that as institutional money has flooded into digital assets over the past year, the growth in demand for cryptocurrency ETPs has boomed. These products are an ideal way to gain exposure to cryptocurrency without the complexity of direct investment, 21 Shares says, writing that their ETPs serve this burgeoning demand, while the custody solution Copper provides diminishes the security risks that institutional investors need to avoid with this new asset class.
Alex Ryvkin, Chief Product Officer of Copper, says: “We are delighted to be supporting 21Shares. They are leading the way in the development of cryptocurrency ETPs, which make up an important part of institutional engagement in this maturing asset class. It is a pleasure to be working with them and we look forward to further collaborating as they grow.”
As of 01 September 2021, 21Shares manages more than USD1.8 billion in 17 cryptocurrency ETPs and 77 listings, including the world’s only ETPs tracking Binance, various Crypto Index Baskets and two ETPs with investor staking rewards (Tezos and Solana). Its products are listed on eight regulated European and Swiss trading exchanges.
