One of the more conservative trillion-dollar asset managers, T. Rowe Price, has surprised analysts after filing to list an actively managed crypto exchange-traded fund in the US.
T. Roweโs S-1 registration statement to launch an Active Crypto ETF could shake up its largely mutual fund-focused offerings โ an asset class that has bled tens of billions of dollars in outflows over the last month.
The filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday states the fund is expected to hold 5 to 15 cryptocurrencies that are eligible under the SECโs generic listing standards, which include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP).
President of NovaDius Wealth Management, Nate Geraci, referred to the filing as โleft fieldโ while suggesting that โlegacy asset managersโ like T. Rowe that missed out on the first crypto ETF wave are now rushing to find their market fit.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas similarly described the filing as a โSEMI-SHOCK,โ noting that T. Rowe, a near $1.8 trillion asset manager, has focused heavily on mutual funds across its 87-year history.
โDid not expect it but I get it. Thereโs gonna be land rush for this space too.โ
Weighting of assets wonโt be purely based on market size
T. Roweโs proposed fund seeks to beat the returns of the FTSE Crypto US Listed Index, with the weighting of assets to be based on fundamentals, valuation, and momentum, the filing states.
Among the other cryptocurrencies eligible for inclusion into T. Roweโs fund is Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Hedera (HBAR), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink (LINK), Stellar (XLM) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).
T. Roweโs Active Crypto ETF varies from a plethora of single-coin ETF applications in line for SEC approval.
Related: Hong Kong approves its first spot Solana ETF ahead of US
However, every one of those applications, including ones for LTC, SOL and XRP, has been held up by the US government shutdown, which is now in its 22nd day.
One of US President Donald Trumpโs economic advisers, Kevin Hassett, said on Monday that the shutdown is โlikely to end sometime this week.โ
T. Rowe shrugged off crypto in 2021 but didnโt entirely rule it outย
More than four and a half years ago, T. Roweโs former CEO William Stromberg said crypto was still in its โearly daysโ when asked whether the asset manager would invest in crypto.
โIt really truly is early, early days here so I would expect this to move at a good pace but take years to really unfold,” Stromberg said at the time.
Magazine: Cliff bought 2 homes with Bitcoin mortgages: Cleverโฆ or insane?
