Asset management giant T. Rowe Price on Wednesday applied for a mixed digital asset exchange-traded fund, according to a regulatory filing, its first in the crypto space as it joined a growing list of traditional finance firms that have proposed token-focused products.
The Baltimore-based firm, which manages $1.77 trillion in assets, said that the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF would hold five to 15 digital assets, including potentially Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, Avalanche, Shiba Inu, Hedera, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, Litecoin, and Polkadot, according to its S-1 prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest digital coins by market cap, will have the biggest weighting, according to the application.
“Under normal circumstances, the Fund is expected to hold between five and fifteen crypto assets; however, the Fund may hold more than fifteen or less than five crypto assets at any time,” the filing said, adding that the ETF would try to outperform the FTSE Crypto U.S. Listed Index.
The application comes as traditional finance firms look to expand their digital asset fund offerings to meet soaring investor demand, a result of the success of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum funds that debuted last year and a friendlier regulatory and political environment.
Fidelity, VanEck and ProShares have all proposed Solana funds. This week, ProShares also submitted a proposal for a mixed digital coin fund.
Several crypto-focused asset managers are also looking to list ETFs based on altcoins. The SEC is currently weighing more than 90 applications for crypto-focused ETFs.
T. Rowe Price told Decrypt that it could not provide information aside from what was in the filing.
In January 2024, the SEC approved a slew of Bitcoin ETFs, including funds proposed by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale. The funds have had the most successful start in the ETF industry’s 32-year history and now manage over $150.3 billion in assets. Ethereum funds, approved later in the year, now control about $23 billion in assets, most of those coming in the last four months.
The funds have given more traditional investors and some institutions access to the world of crypto via shares that trade on a stock exchange. Previously, investors were discouraged by some aspects of buying digital assets, such as storing digital coins and paying tax on gains.
