Active management strategy set to define crypto ETF evolution, says 21shares
Duncan Moir, president at 21shares, identifies changing market demands and sophisticated product development as key drivers moving crypto ETFs and ETPs into active management territory.
The digital asset management firm 21shares views actively managed exchange-traded products as representing the upcoming evolution in cryptocurrency investment vehicles, marking a shift from the market's reliance on straightforward price-tracking instruments.
In an exclusive conversation with Cointelegraph, Duncan Moir, who serves as president of 21shares, explained that cryptocurrency's status as an emerging and developing asset class creates ideal conditions for active management approaches.
According to Moir, the firm employs a comprehensive methodology that merges granular, bottom-up analysis of specific digital assets with both quantitative models and discretionary top-down investment approaches to control risk exposure and strategically position investment portfolios. He further noted that 21shares has been actively growing its portfolio management and trading divisions to accommodate increasingly complex product offerings.
We've had to hire and build out the team with people who have different trading and portfolio management expertise, but now we have a solid team and we think we'll be able to deliver strong actively managed products.
According to information gathered by Morningstar and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, active ETFs globally managed close to $1.8 trillion in total assets as 2025 came to a close.
The integration process with FalconX, the company that completed its acquisition of 21shares in October, is anticipated to speed up the pace of new product creation, Moir noted, especially as the organization moves into more intricate and sophisticated product categories.
Regional variations exist in the appetite for crypto ETPs and ETFs, Moir explained to Cointelegraph. His assessment was:
The interest is still concentrated in the larger coins in the US. In Europe, institutional clients are more interested in newer assets and the application layer beyond the layer-1s.
Moir explained this regional difference as stemming from Europe's more seasoned institutional investor landscape, where organizations that have already established positions in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are now actively seeking opportunities to broaden their cryptocurrency portfolio holdings.
Within this market context, 21shares has recently rolled out a European exchange-traded product connected to Strategy's preferred stock (STRC), providing investors access to a yield-producing instrument tied to the company's Bitcoin-centric capital allocation approach.
According to Moir, this product has experienced robust initial uptake spanning several geographic markets, demonstrating investor interest in income-producing assets that can be conveniently accessed via conventional brokerage service platforms.
Crypto ETPs evolve beyond passive exposure
The cryptocurrency ETP and ETF marketplace is experiencing maturation, with product issuers progressing past basic price replication strategies as increasingly sophisticated product architectures take shape throughout US and European markets.
Staking represents one segment experiencing significant momentum, involving a mechanism through which investors generate yields by committing crypto holdings to support the security infrastructure of blockchain networks. Grayscale implemented staking capabilities throughout its ETPs in October, establishing its Ether funds as the inaugural US-listed spot cryptocurrency ETFs to provide staking returns while also extending this functionality to its Solana trust subject to ETP regulatory clearance.
During March, investment manager BlackRock unveiled a Nasdaq-traded Ethereum product incorporating staking functionality, merging direct Ether market exposure with income generation capabilities. The fund achieved $15.5 million in trading volume during its inaugural trading session.
With new exchange-traded products entering the marketplace, Moir explained that 21shares assesses prospective launches using three core criteria: proprietary research capabilities, investor demand signals, and comprehensive market trend analysis, with the firm's research division pinpointing early-stage opportunities while institutional client input assists in evaluating market interest levels.
"The third is where we see trends going in the future," he explained, noting that this analytical framework can produce either specialized, single-asset products or wider thematic investment vehicles based on the strength of the firm's conviction.
Moir referenced the company's Bitcoin-and-gold ETP as a practical demonstration of this strategic methodology. Though it was recently made available through cross-listing in London, the product has maintained an active presence for four years and has, according to Moir, generated some of the most impressive risk-adjusted performance metrics among European ETPs.
From an investment portfolio construction standpoint, this asset pairing "just makes total sense," he emphasized, highlighting the diversification advantages achieved through the combination of Bitcoin and gold exposures.