21Shares halts several crypto products citing reduced interest (Report)
Switzerland-based crypto ETP issuer – 21Shares – will reportedly close five of its funds and remove another due to low interest from investors.
Arielle Pennington – Head of Global Communications – claimed that the firm will continue to offer its other products which are enjoying solid demand.
Scratch some ETPs
As revealed by Bloomberg, the company will shut down the following five funds: 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Ethereum Index ETP (ticker SPETH), 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Bitcoin Index ETP (ticker SPBTC), 21Shares DeFi 10 Infrastructure ETP (DEFII), 21Shares USD Yield ETP (USDY ), and 21Shares Crypto Layer 1 ETP (LAY1).
Traders will no longer have access from April 6. It will also delist the 21Shares Terra Classic ETP (LUNA) on June 12.
The main reason behind the move is the low interest, as they have assets under management of less than $700,000.
Pennington outlined that demand for the other ETPs remains strong, adding that January saw a significant amount of inflow. During that month, assets under management for 21Shares Bitcoin ETP (ABTC) and 21Shares Ethereum ETP (AETH) passed $200 million.
The Fed’s policy of raising interest rates has negatively affected some products, such as ETPs, and may be a reason for the fall in the cryptocurrency market last year. Other factors include the countless scandals and collapses in the industry, with FTX, Terraand Celsius among the infamous examples.
However, the market situation has improved a lot since the start of the year. Bitcoin and many altcoins rose to multi-month highs amid the US banking disaster.
In addition, the industry can further benefit from the Fed putting an end to its aggressive interest rate hikes, thus giving a breath of fresh air to risk-averse assets. Initial expectations are that the central bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points next week, while some believe that they may not touch the percentage after lifting that for eight months in a row.
BTC ETF rejected again
Apart from offering ETPs, 21Shares revealed its plans to introduce a spot Bitcoin ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange in a joint effort with Ark Investment Management. Nonetheless, the US SEC rejected the application almost two months ago, as it did in the spring of 2022.
It maintained that Cboe BZX Exchange did not “demonstrate that its proposal complies with the requirements” to prevent price manipulation and fraud.
The SEC has previously rejected similar efforts launched by VanEckNICE, Grayscaleand other organizations.
