21Shares is shifting from passive, price-tracking exchange-traded products toward actively managed crypto ETPs as the sector matures.
Duncan Moir, president of 21Shares, told Cointelegraph that crypto’s early-stage, fast-moving market dynamics make it a natural fit for active management. The firm combines bottom-up research on individual digital assets with quantitative models and discretionary top-down portfolio decisions to control risk and select positions. To support these more sophisticated offerings, 21Shares has bolstered its portfolio management and trading teams with people who bring varied trading and management skills.
Moir said the company now has a ‘‘solid team’’ and believes it can deliver strong actively managed products. The move follows broader growth in active funds: active ETFs globally held nearly $1.8 trillion at the end of 2025, per Morningstar and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The acquisition of 21Shares by FalconX in October is expected to accelerate product development and enable the firm to pursue more complex strategies, Moir added.
Demand for crypto ETPs varies by region. In the US, investor interest remains concentrated on the larger coins, while in Europe institutional clients are increasingly seeking exposure to newer tokens and application-layer assets beyond layer-1 protocols. Moir attributed this to a more mature European investor base that already allocates to Bitcoin and Ether and is looking to broaden crypto allocations.
Reflecting that appetite, 21Shares recently launched a Europe-listed ETP tied to Strategy’s preferred stock (STRC), which provides exposure to a high-yield instrument linked to a Bitcoin-focused capital strategy. The firm reports strong early demand across regions, indicating investor interest in yield-generating crypto products accessible through traditional brokerages.
Industry-wide, crypto ETPs are moving beyond simple spot exposure. Staking — earning yield by locking assets to support blockchain networks — is gaining traction. Grayscale added staking across its ETPs in October, making some Ether funds the first US-listed spot crypto ETFs to offer staking rewards, and extended staking to its Solana trust pending approval. In March, BlackRock launched a Nasdaq-listed Ethereum product that includes staking and recorded $15.5 million in trading volume on its first day.
21Shares evaluates new products on three pillars: internal research to identify early opportunities, client feedback to gauge demand, and market-trend analysis to decide whether to pursue single-asset ETPs or broader thematic strategies. Moir pointed to the firm’s cross-listed Bitcoin-and-gold ETP, live in London for four years, as an example of this approach — a product that has delivered strong risk-adjusted returns among European ETPs and offers diversification across the two assets.
As the ETP/ETF landscape evolves, issuers are testing active management, staking and other yield features to expand investor choices beyond simple spot exposure.
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