Wall Street Giant Joins The Crypto ETF Race

T. Rowe Price Files to Launch Actively Managed Crypto ETF

T. Rowe Price is a long-established asset management company founded in 1937. The firm currently manages $1.77 trillion in assets. On October 22, the company filed Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF.

According to the filing, the proposed ETF will hold multiple digital assets, ranging from 5 to 15. The initial list of "Eligible Assets" includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), Polkadot (DOT), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Hedera (HBAR), Stellar (XLM), and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

The T. Rowe Price Active Crypto Fund aims to outperform the FTSE Crypto US Index over the long term (typically one year or more).

“The Sponsor will employ an active investment strategy designed to attempt to ‘outperform’ the Index. To achieve performance exceeding the Index, the Fund will not invest in the cryptocurrency assets that make up the Index (Index Components) in the same proportions as the Index. To achieve superior performance relative to the Index, the Fund may invest in one or more Index Components in weights exceeding or below those assigned by the Index to such Index Components, invest in one or more cryptocurrencies that are not Index Components, or choose not to invest in one or more cryptocurrencies that are Index Components,” the filing states.

Nate Geraci, President of NovaDius Wealth Management, highlighted the strategic logic driving T. Rowe Price’s move. He emphasized that firms can no longer afford to “hope crypto goes away” and are building portfolios to avoid missing opportunities.

“This is not ‘TradFi hijacking crypto’… You have to think deeper than that. A company founded in 1937 is now building out the entire infrastructure to handle crypto trading and manage a crypto ETF. That has to happen before they move on to tokenizing securities,” Geraci added.

Furthermore, Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, noted that competition among major financial institutions to capture market share in the crypto ETF space will continue to intensify.

“T. Rowe Price just filed for an actively managed crypto ETF. They’re one of the top five active fund managers by assets (mostly mutual funds). I didn’t expect this, but I get it. There’s going to be another rush into this space,” he posted.

Over 150 Crypto ETF Filings Await SEC Approval Amid U.S. Government Shutdown

Meanwhile, T. Rowe Price’s filing adds to the growing number of crypto ETF submissions. Recently, Balchunas pointed out that 155 crypto ETP filings are currently awaiting SEC approval.

However, the approval process for crypto ETFs has been stalled due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. Traders on Polymarket, a prediction platform, currently bet a 63% chance that Congress will resolve the deadlock before November 15. The odds are significantly higher for a resolution.

If operations resume, market watchers expect the backlog of ETF applications to be cleared, potentially bringing new capital inflows into the crypto market.

Bitcoinsensus posted: “A resolution will soon bring major benefits to crypto, as ETF approvals are expected to roll out immediately after the shutdown ends.”

Therefore, while the market awaits the outcome of the shutdown, optimism continues to rise. Once activities resume, it remains to be seen whether the government will prioritize reviewing the pending ETF applications or if the industry will face further hurdles.

Disclaimer: The content above reflects the author’s personal views and does not represent any official position of Cobic News. The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice from Cobic News.