Another significant development with traditional institutional investors in mind is the new Ethereum product that investment asset management company 21Shares is working on.
The 21Shares Ethereum Staking ETP
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is now home to the 21Shares Ethereum Staking ETP, the company’s leading Ethereum Staking Exchange Traded Product (ETP). The offering, which has been available to investors since March 4, 2019, is entirely backed by Ethereum and provides a staking mechanism.
AETH, our premier Ethereum Staking ETP, is now on the LSE! Backed by Ether, it offers performance tracking & reinvested staking yields. No asset lock-in. Performance updates monthly. Dive into the future of finance! 🌐https://t.co/nTs5yPAfEY pic.twitter.com/tNf9BWczLt
— 21Shares (@21Shares) June 21, 2024
The company said an institutional-grade custodian maintains the underlying ETP asset in cold storage. 21Shares is adamant that this offers investors more protection than the custody options accessible to private investors.
Its unique features include yield staking and performance tracking. Significantly, AETH mirrors ETH’s performance and offers dividends for staking, which the investor may choose to reinvest in the ETP. In the interim, the AETH staking yield is restricted at 1.63%.
“Investors can access staking yields with AETH and benefit from professional risk management while avoiding the need to lock assets,” states 21Shares.
According to 21Shares, AETH boasts the longest track record of any physical ETH product available on the market compared to other ETPs. The ETP was already available on banks and brokerages such as Easybank, Finedon Bank, Interactive Brokers, iBroker, eToro, etc., before it was listed on the LSE.
It has traded on the Nasdaq, SIX Swiss Exchange, Deutsche Boerse Xetra, and other exchanges. AETH’s Assets Under Management (AUM) now exceeds $500 million.
The Origins of 21Shares Notably
This is one of the ETPs managed exclusively by 21Shares on the ETF Market; most of them, including spot Bitcoin ETFs, are coordinated with Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest.
Last month, the company modified its spot Ethereum ETF registration to expedite SEC approval. A few weeks ago, Ark Invest withdrew from this particular offering. 21Shares eliminated the “staking” feature, which was once included to enable the company to sporadically pool some of the trust’s Ethereum assets through reliable third-party providers.
Thankfully for 21Shares, the SEC and seven others approved the proposed rule modification on May 23. Although trading has not yet started, spot Ethereum ETF registrants are carrying out their end of the bargain by filing their S-1 modifications. With any luck, spot Ethereum ETF will go live soon.
