Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6245bc6c12fa3" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Launches on exchanges across Europe come as the firm seeks to offer a more robust toolkit to institutional investors</li>
 <li>WisdomTree is exploring plenty more “very interesting projects,” an executive told Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Asset manager WisdomTree has added three physically backed crypto ETPs as issuers rush to meet demand from investors looking to diversify their digital asset holdings.



The fund group, which manages roughly $80 billion in assets, this week launched solana, cardano and polkadot ETPs (exchange-traded products). The products began trading on exchanges in Germany and Switzerland on Tuesday and hit Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam and Paris on Thursday.



The trio of ETPs, which can be sold across the European Union, carry an expense ratio of 95 basis points.



Jason Guthrie, the firm’s head of digital assets for Europe, told Blockworks its client base on the continent is composed entirely of institutional investors.



“It’s not that you get a handful of clients or one big client saying, ‘I really want cardano or polkadot’ specifically, but rather there is this increasing appetite for an ever-expanding product set,” Guthrie said. “The ability for people to respond to market situations, to adjust their portfolio, to have a more robust toolkit I think is by far the loudest message that we get from our client base.”



The market capitalizations of solana (SOL) and cardano (ADA) are roughly $40 billion and $37 billion, respectively — good for sixth- and eighth-highest among cryptocurrencies, according to data compiled by Blockworks. Polkadot (DOT) ranks 11th, at about $25 billion.



WisdomTree now offers eight crypto ETPs. In addition to bitcoin and ethereum products, the company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/wisdomtree-launches-spot-etps-in-europe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched three crypto basket ETPs</a> in November. The Crypto Market (BLOC), Crypto Altcoins (WALT) and Crypto Mega Cap Equal Weight (MEGA) ETPs were designed to offer blended exposure to blue-chip coins, as well as decentralized finance payments, smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).&nbsp;



“While Bitcoin and Ethereum grab the headlines, altcoins are now viable options for many institutional investors, providing more options to diversify their crypto holdings just like they would with any other asset class,” WisdomTree Head of Europe Alexis Marinof said in a statement.



In cherry-picking cryptocurrencies for products, Guthrie said the firm evaluates trading volumes and developer activity, as well as the support it has from exchanges and custodians.&nbsp;



WisdomTree is looking into “plenty of very interesting projects,” he added, noting that future exposures could come in the form of single-asset or basket products. Guthrie did not reveal any specific assets the firm is considering.



Exchange FTX and asset manager CoinShares <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinshares-ftx-team-up-to-launch-solana-etp/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> the Physical Staked Solana ETP in Germany last week. DeFi Technologies subsidiary Valour launched terra (LUNA) and avalanche (AVAX) ETPs in the country a few days later.



Issuer 21Shares, which has launched a number of crypto ETPs in recent months, plans to have products supporting what the firm considers the top 50 cryptocurrencies by the end of the year, CEO Hany Rashwan <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/21-shares-expands-crypto-etps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks</a>.



Guthrie acknowledged the increasing competition in the European crypto ETP space. While it’s important to bring new offerings to market, the executive added, it’s a “balancing act” to ensure the firm maintains a “manageable” product range.



“If you throw too much at the wall, it just becomes confusing to investors,” Guthrie said. “I also think there’s a risk with this space that if you go too far down the list, you can stray into products that are potentially not mature enough yet, are having regulatory issues or have less-established use cases.”



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WisdomTree Unveils 3 New Crypto ETPs as Investors Seek Diversity

<div id="highlights-block_620a95f664cea" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Valour CEO says firm is “only at the beginning” of bringing crypto products to regulated exchanges</li>
 <li>Launches come amid a spree of altcoin ETP launches from competing companies 21Shares and CoinShares</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



DeFi Technologies subsidiary Valour has introduced two more exchange-traded products (ETPs) on Frankfurt’s stock exchange, this time launching offerings focused on Cardano and Polkadot.&nbsp;



The latest launches follow the exchange, the Boerse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/defi-technologies-subsidiary-gets-nod-to-list-solana-etp-on-frankfurt-exchange/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">giving</a> Valour approval to list an ETP tracking the price of Solana (SOL) earlier this month.



Cardano’s native token, ADA, has a market capitalization of about <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/prices/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$33 billion</a>. ADA is the seventh-largest crypto coin by market cap — behind XRP and ahead of SOL.



Meanwhile, Polkadot’s (DOT) market cap sits at about $20 billion, which is 10th highest — ahead of Avalanche (AVAX) and trailing Terra (LUNA).



In addition to the Cardano, Polkadot and Solana ETPs, Valour offers a Uniswap (UNI) fund, as well as its fee-free Bitcoin Zero and Ethereum Zero products.



Valour CEO Tommy Fransson told Blockworks in an email that the firm decided to list the new products in Frankfurt following the demand it saw for its Cardano and Polkadot ETPs in the Swedish market.



The executive noted that investor utility of a particular asset is more important than its market cap when choosing to launch a single-asset product.



Valour intends to bring these products to other countries, Fransson said, including Switzerland and Austria.



“We are looking into bringing more single-asset products but also baskets, themes and indices,” the CEO explained. “We think that we are only at the beginning of the amount of crypto offerings on regulated exchanges.”



The ETP launches are the latest in a series of ETP launches outside the US focused on assets beyond bitcoin and ether.



<a href="https://21shares.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21Shares</a>, the world’s largest issuer of crypto ETPs, has launched products in recent weeks focused on Aave (AAVE), Chainlink (LINK), UNI, Decentraland (MANA) and FTX Token (FTT).



The company’s CEO, Hany Rashwan, previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/21-shares-expands-crypto-etps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks</a> that the firm is looking to have ETPs supporting what it considers to be the top 50 cryptocurrencies by the end of 2022.



CoinShares last month <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinshare-launches-new-etps/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> Polkadot and Tezos ETPs in Germany that are designed to share staking rewards with investors.&nbsp;



Digital asset investment products saw inflows of $75 million last week, according to a CoinShares report published Monday. Recently created altcoin offerings tracking Terra, Tezos and Cosmos had inflows of $2.2 million, $900,000 and $600,000, respectively.



New York-based Grayscale <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/grayscale-considers-25-new-digital-assets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> a list of 25 new digital assets it is considering investing in, including Algorand (ALGO), Axie Infinity (AXIE), Cosmos (ATOM), Fantom (FTM) and Helium (HNT). The firm had most recently added payment network Amp (AMP) to its investment mix.



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Cardano, Polkadot ETPs Hit Frankfurt Stock Exchange

<div id="highlights-block_61f97af204c68" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>21Shares manages more than $2 billion in 26 cryptocurrency ETPs and 87 listings across 10 European and Swiss exchanges</li>
 <li>The firm plans to feature dozens more cryptocurrencies in ETPs by year-end</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



21Shares, the world’s largest issuer of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), has launched three more such products in Switzerland as the firm looks to expand its offerings this year.&nbsp;



The company&#8217;s new ETPs, which launched on the BX Swiss exchange, have <a href="https://aave.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aave</a> (AAVE), <a href="https://chain.link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chainlink</a> (LINK) and <a href="https://uniswap.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Uniswap</a> (UNI) as their underlying assets. The offerings carry a fee of 250 basis points.&nbsp;



Each offers performance directly linked to the asset without leverage. 21Shares holds the underlying crypto assets in cold storage.



Aave allows users to borrow assets and earn interest on deposits, while Chainlink enables smart contracts to create efficient blockchains for real-time data and computation. Decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap offers a protocol that delivers liquidity and trading for tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.



“DeFi is clearly a theme of great interest and activity in crypto and these three assets are some of the largest and best known infrastructural pieces underpinning a lot of DeFi activities,” Hany Rashwan, CEO and co-founder of 21Shares, told Blockworks. “These three assets are among the best of the space, offering loans, oracle and exchange infrastructure that is absolutely vital for the space to continue growing.”



LINK’s market capitalization was about $8 billion Tuesday afternoon, which was the 21st-highest among coins, according to CoinGecko. The market caps of UNI and AAVE are roughly $5.1 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively.



21Shares <a href="https://21shares.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manages</a> more than $2 billion in 26 cryptocurrency ETPs and 87 listings. Its products are listed on 10 regulated European and Swiss trading exchanges.



The firm currently offers 18 single-asset tracker ETPs. Its bitcoin and ether ETPs launched in February 2019 and March 2019, respectively.



Rashwan said lots of “very innovative projects across every crypto vertical” are not yet supported by ETPs, noting the firm aims to support what the firm considers the top 50 cryptocurrencies by the end of the year. 



The firm evaluates new listings based on trading metrics, its team, investors, community and social reach, among other factors. The CEO declined to share specific assets 21Shares is considering for ETPs.



The company also anticipates listing additional indexes and more specialized products, such as its Short Bitcoin ETP, which borrows BTC and simultaneously sells it to create short exposure.



21Shares’ latest products follow its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/21shares-crypto-etp-in-europe-excludes-btc-and-eth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launch of a Crypto Mid-Cap Index ETP</a> in December.&nbsp; Tracking an index that excludes bitcoin and ether, the product’s largest holding at the time of launch was binance coin (BNB), with a nearly 31% weighting.


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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



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Exchange-Traded Products